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To draw off by degrees; to cause to flow gradually out or off; hence, to cause the exhaustion of. Fountains drain the water from the ground adjacent. Bacon. But it was not alone that the he drained their treasure and hampered their industry. Motley.

To fear in a great degree; to regard, or look forward to, with terrific apprehension. When at length the moment dreaded through so many years came close, the dark cloud passed away from Johnson's mind. Macaulay.

ibuted over large portions of the earth's surface, especially in latitudes north of forty degrees, by the agency of ice.

To cause to slip or waste away by degrees. [Obs.] This accident hath drilled away the whole summer. Swift.

An instrument for measuring the degree of hardness; especially, an instrument for testing the relative hardness of steel rails and the like.

Imperfect obscurity; a middle degree between light and darkness; twilight; as, the dusk of the evening.

clergy only, recognizes the offices of bishop, priest, and deacon as the three necessary degrees of orders, venerates relics and icons, and has an elaborate ritual.

ly from the shore, vessel, or other object. -- To edge down (Naut.), to approach by slow degrees, as when a sailing vessel approaches an object in an oblique direction from the windward. -- To edge in, to get in edgewise; to get in by degrees. -- To edge in with, as with a coast or vessel (Naut.), to advance gradual…

aracteristic of a woman, as delicacy, luxuriousness, etc.; soft or delicate to an unmanly degree; womanish; weak. The king, by his voluptuous life and mean marriage, became effeminate, and less sensible of honor. Bacon. An effeminate and unmanly foppery. Bp. Hurd.

tus for determining the amount of oil contained in any substance, or for ascertaining the degree of purity of oil.

term applied to what is also called the absolute superlative, denoting a high or intense degree of a quality, but not excluding the idea that an equal degree may exist in other cases.

An instrument for measuring the degree of rarefaction of air contained in the receiver of an air pump. [Spelt also elaterometer.]

, or tends to produce, electricity, or an electric current; sometimes used to express the degree of electrification as equivalent to potential, or more properly difference of potential.

To raise to a higher pitch, or to a greater degree of loudness; -- said of sounds; as, to elevate the voice.

Condition of being elevated; height; exaltation. "Degrees of elevation above us." Locke. His style . . . wanted a little elevation. Sir H. Wotton.

The interval consisting of ten conjunct degrees; the interval made up of an octave and a fourth.

The result of eliminating n variables between n homogeneous equations of any degree; -- called also resultant.

The process of separating a fusible substance from one less fusible, by means of a degree of heat sufficient to melt the one and not the other, as an alloy of copper and lead; liquation. Ure.

ce; distance. The distant points in the celestial expanse appear to the eye in so small a degree of elongation from one another, as bears no proportion to what is real. Glanvill.

In an eminent manner; in a high degree; conspicuously; as, to be eminently learned.