gradatory

English

Etymology

Compare Latin gradatarium.

Noun

gradatory (plural gradatories)

1. (architecture) A series of steps from a cloister into a church.

Adjective

gradatory (comparative more gradatory, superlative most gradatory)

1. (archaic) Proceeding step by step; gradual.
   • May 31 1793, Anna Seward, letter to — Eccles:

     Could we have seen [Macbeth's] crimes darkening on their progress […] could this gradatory apostasy have been shown us.

2. (zoology) Suitable for walking, or able to walk (said of an animal, especially a bird, or of the limbs of an animal when adapted for walking on land).
   • 1897, John van Denburgh, The Reptiles of the Pacific Coast and Great Basin:

     Under this name we group together a large number of very similar forms; or if dissimilar, forms connected by gradatory specimens

References

• “gradatory”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.