Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GRACE-FUL-NESS, n.

Elegance of manner or deportment; beauty with dignity in manner, motion or countenance. Gracefulness consists in the natural ease and propriety of an action, accompanied with a countenance expressive of dignity or elevation of mind. Happy is the man who can add the gracefulness of ease to the dignity of merit.

GRACE-LESS, a.

Void of grace; corrupt; depraved; unregenerate; unsanctified.

GRACE-LESS-LY, adv.

Without grace.

GRACE-LESS-NESS, n.

Destitution of grace. Dr. Favour.

GRA'CES, n.

Good graces, favor; friendship.

GRACE-SAY-ER, n.

One who says grace.

GRA-CIL'I-TY, n.

Slenderness. [Not in wse.]

GRA'CIOUS, a. [Fr. gracieux; L. gratiosus.]

1. Favorable; kind; friendly; as, the envoy met with gracious reception.
2. Favorable; kind; benevolent; merciful; disputed t forgive offenses and impart unmerited blessings. Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful. Neh. ix.
3. Favorable; expressing kindness and favor. All bore him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded from his mouth. Luke iv.
4. Proceeding from divine grace; as, a person in a gracious state.
5. Acceptable; favored. He made us gracious before the kings of Persia. [Little used.] 1 Esdras.
6. Renewed or implanted by grace; as, gracious affections.
7. Virtuous; good. Shak.
8. Excellent; graceful; becoming. [Obs.] Hooker. Camden.

GRACIOUS-LY, adv.

1. Kindly; favorably; in a friendly manner; with kind condescension. His testimony he graciously confirmed. Dryden.
2. In a pleasing manner.

GRACIOUS-NESS, n.

1. Kind condescension. Clarendon.
2. Possession of graces or good qualities. Bp. Barlow.
3. Pleasing manner. Jonson.
4. Mercifulness. Sandys.

GRACKLE, n.

L. graculus, dim. of Goth. krage, a crow. See Crow. Varro's deduction of this word from grex is an error.] A genus of birds, the Gracula, of which the crow blackbird is a species.

GRA-DA'TION,

1. n [L. gradatio; Fr. gradation. See Grude.]
2. A series of ascending steps or degrees, or a proceeding step by step; hence, progress from one degree or state to another; a regular advance from step to step. We observe a gradation in the progress of society from a rude to a civilized life. Men may arrive by several gradations to tie most horrid-impiety.
3. A degree in any order or series; we observe a gradation in the scale of being, from brute to man, from man to angels.
4. Order; series; regular process by degrees or steps; as, a gradation in argument or description.

GRA-DA'TION-AL, a.

According to gradation. Lawrence.

GRA-DATION-ED, a.

Formed by gradation. New An. Reg.

GRAD'A-TO-RY, a.

Proceeding step by step. Seward.

GRAD'A-TO-RY, n.

Steps from the cloisters into the church. Ainsworth.

GRADE, n. [Fr. grade; Sp. and It. grado; Port. gm; from L. gradus, a step; gradior, to step, to go; G. grad; D. ' graad; Dan. and Sw, grad, a step or degree; ' graz, t step, degree, rank, from rhaz, a going forward or advance, Arm. radd. It may he from a common root with W. rhawd way, course, rout; rhodiuw, to walk about; rhod, a wheel. L. rota. We observe by the Welsh that the first letter is a prefix, and the root of the word then is Rd. We observe further, that the Latin gradror forms gressus, by a common change of d to s, or as it is in Welsh z [th.]

1. Now if g is a prefix, then gressus [ressus] coincides with the Sw. resa, Dan; rejser, G. reisen, D. reizen, to go, to travel, to journey, D. reis, a journey or voyage. In Sw. and Dan; the verbs signify not only to travel, but to raise. Whether the latter word raise is of the same family, may be doubtful; but the others appear to belong to one radix, coinciding with the Syr. {foreign} radah, to go, to walk; Ch. {foreign}, to open, expand, flow, instruct; Heb. to descend. A step then is u stretch, a reach of the foot. Class Rd, No. I, 2, 26.]
2. A degree or rank in order or dignity, civil, military or ecclesiastical. J. M. Mason. Walsh. While questions, periods, and grades and privileges an never once formally discussed. S. Miller.
3. A step or degree in any ascending series; as, crimes d every grade. When we come to examine the intermediate grades. S. S. Smith.

GRADE, v.t.

To reduce to a certain degree of ascent or descent, as a road or way.

GRAD-ED, pp.

Reduced to a proper degree of ascent.

GRADE-LY, a.

Decent orderly. [Local.]

GRADE-LY, adv.

Decently; orderly. [Local.]

GRA'DI-ENT, a. [L. gradiens, gradior.]

Moving by steps; walking; as, gradient automata. Wilkins.

GRAD-ING, ppr.

Reducing to a proper degree of ascent.

GRAD'U-AI, a. [Fr. graduel, from grade.]

1. Proceeding by steps or degrees; advancing step by step, passing from one step to another; regular and slow as, n a gradual increase of knowledge; a gradual increase of lights in the morning is favorable to the eyes.
2. Proceeding by degrees in a descending line or progress; a gradual decline.

GRAD'U-AL, n.

1. An order of steps. Dryden.
2. A grail; an ancient book of hymns and prayers. Chalmers.