Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DE-GRADE', v.t. [Fr. degrader; Sp. and Port. degradar; It. degradare; L. de and gradus, a step, a degree. See Grade.]

1. To reduce from a higher to a lower rank or degree; to deprive one of any office or dignity, by which he loses rank in society; to strip of honors; as, to degrade a nobleman, an archbishop, or a general officer.
2. To reduce in estimation; to lessen the value of; to lower; to sink. Vice degrades a man in the view of others; often in his own view. Drunkenness degrades a man to the level of a beast.
3. To reduce in altitude or magnitude, as hills and mountains. Although the ridge is still there, the ridge itself has been degraded. – Journ. of Science.