Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GRAD'U-ATE, v.t. [It. graduare; Sp. graduar; Fr. graduer; from L. gradus, a degree.]

1. To honor with a degree or diploma, in a college or university; to confer a degree on; as, to graduate a master of arts. Carew. Wotton.
2. To mark with degrees, regular intervals, or divisions; as, to graduate a thermometer.
3. To form shades or nice differences.
4. To raise to a higher place in the scale of metals. Boyle.
5. To advance by degrees; to improve. Dyers advance and graduate their colors with salts. Brown.
6. To temper; to prepare. Diseases originating in the atmosphere act exclusively on bodies graduated to receive their impressions. Med. Repos.
7. To mark degrees or differences of any kind; as, to graduate punishment. Duponceau.
8. In chimistry, to bring fluids to a certain degree of consistency.