| 释义 |
▪ I. gradual, n.|ˈgrædjuːəl|
[ad. med.L. graduāle n., orig. neut. of graduālis adj.: see next.]
1. An antiphon sung between the Epistle and the Gospel at the Eucharist, so called because it was sung at the steps of the altar or while the deacon was ascending the steps of the ambo. (Cf. grail1 1.)
1563–83Foxe A. & M. 1402/1 The Responsorie, which is called the Graduall (beyng wont to be song at the steps going vp). 1656Blount Glossogr., Gradual, that part of the Mass which is said or sung between the Epistle and the Gospel, as a grade or step from the first to the later. 1849Rock Ch. of Fathers I. iii. 217 A part of a psalm was chanted between the Epistle and the Gospel, which..came to be called the gradual. 1896Ch. Times 14 Aug., A special Collect, Epistle, and Gospel have been licensed for this festival by the Bishop of the diocese, and the proper Introit and Gradual were also used.
2. A book of such antiphons. = grail1 2.
1619Brent tr. Sarpi's Counc. Trent (1629) 752 Authority may bee giuen to reforme Missals, Breuiaries, Agends, and Graduals. 1674in Blount Glossogr. (ed. 4). 1782Burney Hist. Mus. (1789) II. ii. 137 The following is another alleluja from an ancient Gradual. 1846W. Maskell Mon. Rit. I. p. xxxiii, It certainly is not easy, if it be possible, to lay down express signs by which the Antiphoner and the Gradual are always to be distinguished. 1866J. H. Blunt Annot. Bk. Com. Prayer 68 A third [volume] for the Anthems, called the Antiphonarius or Gradual.
†3. The steps of an altar. Obs. (? nonce-use.)
1693Dryden Ovid's Met. i. 506 Before the gradual, prostrate they ador'd: The pavement kiss'd; and thus the saint implor'd.
▪ II. gradual, a.|ˈgrædjuːəl|
Also 6 -ale, 7 -all.
[ad. med.L. graduāl-is, f. gradu-s step. Cf. F. graduel.]
†1. Of or pertaining to degree; only in gradual difference = difference in degree. Obs.
a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. vi. ii. (1821) 190 Besides this gradual difference between Moses and the prophets, there is [etc.]. 1651Baxter Saints' Rest iii. xi. §12 A Moral specifical difference is usually founded in a Natural Gradual difference. 1658― Saving Faith §2. 15 The difference is only gradual, and not specifical.
†b. Mus. gradual tone = degree 11 a. Obs.
1665C. Simpson Princ. Pract. Musick 3 All Musick..is formed of Seven Gradual Tones, or Degrees of Sound.
†2. Mus. Corresponding to the degrees of the natural scale; giving the ‘natural’ notes. Obs.
1694W. Holder Harmony (1731) 118 The Breves representing the Tones of the broad Gradual Keys of an Organ; the Semibreves representing the narrow Upper Keys.
†3. Arranged in, or admitting of, degrees or gradation. Obs.
1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. G ij b, And in both the endes of y⊇ same ben pyttes receyuynge the roundnesses, Towarde the elbowe ben receyued y⊇ roundnesses graduales of the adiutory [L. rotunditates gradatas adiutorii]. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. iii. 168 A graduall expression, growing up to the height of its emphasis by foure steps. 1667Milton P.L. v. 483 Flowers and their fruit, Man's nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed, To vital spirits aspire. 1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. 129 Moral Evidence is gradual, according to the variety of circumstances. 1712Steele Spect. No. 270 ⁋1 So great an Assembly of Ladies placed in gradual Rows.
4. Of a process: Taking place by degrees; advancing step by step; slowly progressive. Of a slope: Gentle, not steep or abrupt.
1692Locke Educ. §184 By a gradual Progress from the plainest and easiest Historians, he may at last come to read the most difficult and sublime of the Latin Authours. 1701Grew Cosm. Sacra ii. viii. 80 The Transition from Humane into Perfect Mind, is made by a Gradual Ascent. 1736Butler Anal. i. iii. Wks. 1874 I. 65 The complete success of virtue, as of reason, cannot..be otherwise than gradual. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxix. III. 105 The gradual discovery of the weakness of Arcadius and Honorius. 1821Keats Isabella xxxii, Isabel By gradual decay from beauty fell. 1840Tanner Canals & Rail Roads U.S. 73 The ascents and descents of the summits are very gradual, not exceeding 30 feet per mile. 1844Emerson Lect., New Eng. Ref. Wks. (Bohn) I. 260 A gradual withdrawal of tender consciences from the social organizations. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xxiv. (1860) 269/1 The increasing roll of the sea, showed the gradual shallowing of the water. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 66 We should consider how gradual the process is by which..a legal system..becomes perfected.
b. poet. in nonce-uses. Of objects with regard to form, movement, etc.: Tapering; sloping gradually; moving or changing gradually.
1739G. Ogle Gualtherus & Griselda 5 The rounded Turret, and the gradual Spire. 1742Collins Odes ix. 40 Thy dewy fingers draw The gradual dusky veil. 1762Falconer Shipwr. i. 744 Along the arch the gradual index slides. 1850Mrs. Browning Poems I. 75 Back to the gradual banks and vernal bowers. 1890W. Watson Wordsworth's Grave, etc. 71 How welcome—after drum and trumpet's din—The continuity, the long slow slope And vast curves of the gradual violin!
c. quasi-adv. (poet.)
1736Thomson Liberty iv. 227 Arts gradual gather Streams. 1793Gilb. White Invit. Selborne 80 There spreads the distant view, That gradual fades till sunk in misty blue. 1801Southey Thalaba v. xlii, Gradual as by prayer The sin was purged away. 1808J. Barlow Columb. iii. 2 Now twenty years these children of the skies Beheld their gradual growing empire rise. 1813Scott Rokeby ii. ii, What prospects, from his watch-tower high, Gleam gradual on the warder's eye! 1850Lynch Theo. Trin. v. 82 Now, gradual, earth withdraws from view.
5. gradual psalms: fifteen psalms (cxx–cxxxiv) each of which is entitled in the A.V. ‘Song of Degrees’, in R.V. ‘Song of Ascents’; in the Vulgate Canticum graduum, in the LXX ᾠδὴ ἀναβαθµῶν = Heb. shīr hammaﻋalōth, the sense of which is disputed. (Cf. F. psaumes graduels.)
1656–81in Blount Glossogr. 1864Pusey Lect. Daniel v. 319 Some of the gradual psalms suit well to the habitual low estate of the returned exiles. 1893C. L. Marson Psalms at Work (1894) 178/1 The gradual psalms..were for the ascent to the Temple.
Hence ˈgradualness.
1842Pusey Crisis Eng. Ch. 16 We..have been exempt from the degree of trial to which a younger generation is exposed, through the very gradualness with which our conceptions of the Unity of the Church came upon us. 1883H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. ii. (1884) 92 The gradualness of growth is a characteristic which strikes the simplest observer. |