gradualism (gradualizm)

[ Gradualism [in destroying slavery] is delay, and delay is the betrayal of victory. Sumner , Speech, Feb. 12, 1863. gradua graduality (grad-u-al'i-ti), n. [ gradual + -tty.] -ity .] The character of being gradual; regu progre ion. [Rare.] radual; regular The close resemblance of the seedling to the tree, and the graduality of the growth. J. S. Mill, Logic, III. xv. § 3. graff fe ional incorporated society, after examination. I would be a graduate , sir, no freshman. Fletcher (and another ), Fair Maid of the Inn, iv. 1. Sweet girl- graduates in their golden hair. Tennyson, Prince , Prol. 2. A graduated gla ve el used for measuring liquids, as by chemists, apothecaries, etc. graduateship (grad'u-at-ship), n. A graduate that has contained tincture of iron, or solutions of lead or lime. Workshop Receipts , 2d ser., p. 114. [ graduate + -ship .] The condition of a graduate. An English concordance, and a topick folio, the gatherings and savings of a sober graduateship. Milton , Areopagitica. graduation (grad-u-ā'shon), n . [= F. gradua tion = Pr. graduacio = Sp. graduacion = Pg. graduação = It. graduazione , gradua tio(n-), the act of conferring a degree, gra duare , confer a degree: see graduate .] 1. The act of graduating, or the state of being graduTennyson, Enoch Arden. ated. (a) The act or art of dividing into degrees or other definite parts, as scales, the limbs of astronomical or other instruments, and the like. gradually (grad'u-al-i), adv. 1. In a gradual manner; by degrees; step by step; slowly. No debtor does confe all his debts, but breaks them gradually to his man of busine . Thackeray , New comes, xxvi. A languor came Upon him, gentle sickne , gradually Weakening the man. bas-relief a slab of alabaster,. cut at the western end into steps or gradines . Layard, Nineveh, v. 2. An altar-ledge or altar-shelf; one of the steps, ledges, or shelves above and back of an altar, on which the altar-cro or crucifix, flower-vases, candlesticks, etc., are placed. The term gradin seems to have been recently introduced from the French. Before the Reformation the simple name shelf was used. The gradin or gradins collectively are sometimes called a superaltar , or by some confusion of or the piece of ornamentation, painting, sculpture, ledge or raised superaltar: as, a gradino of mosaic. The four small bas-reliefs of the Nativity, the Annunciation, the Epiphany and the Presentation, in the gra dino , are sweet and tender in feeling, and simple in composition. C. C. Perkins, Italian Sculpture, p. 143. gradual (grad'ū-al), a . and n. [F. graduel = Pr. Sp. Pg. gradual It. graduale , gra = dual is, only as neut. n. graduale, also gradale, gradalis (> ult. E. graill ), a book of hymns and prayers, such as were orig. sung on the steps of a pu pulpit, Flowers and their fruit, Man's nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed, To vital spirits aspire. Milton , P. L., v. 483. 2. Moderate in degree of movement or change; proceeding with slow regularity; not abrupt or sudden: as, a gradual rise or fall of the thermometer; gradual improvement in health. What prospects from his watch-tower high Gleam gradual on the warder's eye! Scott , Rokeby, ii. 2. Marriage is still the beginning of the home epic the gradual conquest or irremediable lo of that complete union which makes...age the harvest of sweet memories in common. George Eliot, Middle march, II. 445. Gradual emancipation, modulation, number, etc. See the nouns. - Gradual Psalms, Psalms cxx. to cxxxiv. inclusive: supposed to have been so called because sung on the fifteen steps from the outer to the inner court of the temple at Jerusalem. Also called Psalms of De grees. [The title at the head of each of these Psalms is שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת literally a song of the goings up, ascents, or steps.' In the Septuagint it is ᾠδὴ ἀναβαθμῶν; in the Vulgate, Canticum graduum; in the authorized version, "A Song of Degrees"; in the revised version, "A Song of Ascents."] II. n. 11. A series of steps. Before the gradual prostrate they ador'd, The pavement ki ed, and thus the saints implor'd. Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Meta morph., i. 507. 2. In the Rom . Cath . Ch .: ( a ) An antiphon sung after the reading of the epistle, while the book is moved from the epistle to the gospel side of the altar: so called because it was formerly sung by the subdeacon or epistler and cantor on the step ( gradus ) of the ambo or pulpit from which the epistle was read. (b) An office-book formerly in use, containing the antiphons called graduals, as well as introits and other antiphons, etc., of the ma . Also called the can tatory or cantatorium. graduale (grad-u-ā'lē), n.; pl. gradual i a (-li-ä). [ML.: see gradual.] Same as gradual, 2. Human reason doth not only gradually but specifically differ from the fantastic reason of brutes. Grew.