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keep my hands from picking and stealing." Book of Com. Prayer. To pick up, to improve by degrees; as, he is picking up in health or business. [Colloq. U.S.]

A point or peak; the extreme point or degree of elevation or depression; hence, a limit or bound. Driven headlong from the pitch of heaven, down Into this deep. Milton. Enterprises of great pitch and moment. Shak. To lowest pitch of abject fortune. Milton. He lived when learning was at its highest pitch. Addison. The e…

A reason or cause of pity, grief, or regret; a thing to be regretted. "The more the pity." Shak. What pity is it That we can die but once to serve our country! Addison.

Rank; degree; grade; order of priority, advancement, dignity, or importance; especially, social rank or position; condition; also, official station; occupation; calling. "The enervating magic of place." Hawthorne. Men in great place are thrice servants. Bacon. I know my place as I would they should do theirs. Shak.…

A celestial body which revolves about the sun in an orbit of a moderate degree of eccentricity. It is distinguished from a comet by the absence of a coma, and by having a less eccentric orbit. See Solar system.

obtained by reduction and precipitation from its solutions. It absorbs oxygen to a high degree, and is employed as an oxidizer. -- Platinum lamp (Elec.), a kind of incandescent lamp of which the luminous medium is platinum. See under Incandescent. -- Platinum metals (Chem.), the group of metallic elements which in t…

hing to play with; a toy; anything that serves to amuse. A child knows his nurse, and by degrees the playthings of a little more advanced age. Locke.

To reject at an examination for degrees. C. Bronté. To pluck away, to pull away, or to separate by pulling; to tear away. -- To pluck down, to pull down; to demolish; to reduce to a lower state. -- to pluck off, to pull or tear off; as, to pluck off the skin. -- to pluck up. (a) To tear up by the roots or from the f…

plumes, especially the species of Epimarchus from New Guinea, and some of the herons and egrets, as the white heron of Florida (Ardea candidissima). -- Plume grass. (Bot) (a) A kind of grass (Erianthus saccharoides) with the spikelets arranged in great silky plumes, growing in swamps in the Southern United States. (b…

or relative position, or to indicate a transition from one state or position to another, degree; step; stage; hence, position or condition attained; as, a point of elevation, or of depression; the stock fell off five points; he won by tenpoints. "A point of precedence." Selden. "Creeping on from point to point." Tennys…

directrix are pole and polar. There are also poles and polar curves to curves of higher degree than the second, and poles and polar planes to surfaces of the second degree.

Characterized by refinement, or a high degree of finish; as, polite literature. Macaulay.

One who does not try for honors, but is content to take a degree merely; a passman. [Cambridge Univ., Eng.]

in which this characteristic is reversed, as Iceland spar, tourmaline, etc. -- Positive degree (Gram.), that state of an adjective or adverb which denotes simple quality, without comparison or relation to increase or diminution; as, wise, noble. -- Positive electricity (Elec), the kind of electricity which is develop…

designating, the studies pursued after graduation, esp., after receiving the bachelor's degree at a college; graduate. -- n.

The energy of an electrical charge measured by its power to do work; hence, the degree of electrification as referred to some standard, as that of the earth; electro-motive force.

The degree to which a lens, mirror, or any optical instrument, magnifies; in the telescope, and usually in the microscope, the number of times it multiplies, or augments, the apparent diameter of an object; sometimes, in microscopes, the number of times it multiplies the apparent surface.

In a preëminent degree.

Most ancient; -- said of the peer bearing the oldest title of his degree.

In a preternatural manner or degree. Bacon.