degree
part of speech
noun (degree, degrees)
meaning for a pupil
1) A degree is a unit for measuring how hot or cold something is. Water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius. tree →
2) A degree is a unit for measuring the size of an angle. A right angle is 90 degrees. tree →
3) A degree is what you get when you finish college or university. tree →
4) «To some degree» means a bit, partly. tree →
5) “By degrees” means gradually, little by little. tree →
sense in the lessons
Interpretation: Sefer Yetzirah's "paths" are said to be stages or levels of power. In Kings it means a step on a sundial, when the shadow went back ten degrees as a sign for Hezekiah. In Psalms "low degree" and "high degree" mean humble and high rank. In the primary lessons: maths: a unit of temperature (rises and falls) or of angles (right angle 90, straight line 180, full turn 360; a triangle's angles add up to 180); science: thermometers, Celsius and Fahrenheit, a fever; everyday life: weather reports; written ° as in 20°
examples
- 3) Paths denote powers, effects, kinds, forms, degrees or stages. (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) tree →
- C. to denote the absence of degrees, minutes, or seconds in their sexagesi- mal notation. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →
- And Hezekiah answered: 'It is a light thing for the shadow to decline ten degrees; nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.' (Prophets 2KI.20.10, JPS 1917) tree →
- And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD; and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz. (Prophets 2KI.20.11, JPS 1917) tree →
- Men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; if they be laid in the balances, they are together lighter than vanity. (Writings PSA.62.10, JPS 1917) tree →
- It was 15 degrees in the morning and 22 degrees at noon. tree →
- The temperature fell 6 degrees. tree →
- A right angle is 90 degrees. tree →
- The angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees. tree →
- Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. tree →
- Turn 360 degrees to make a full turn. tree →
- It is 75 degrees Fahrenheit today. tree →
- My sister got a degree in science. tree →
- The natives came by degrees to be less fearful of danger from me. tree →
note
A unit: rises add, falls subtract; angle sums are fixed (triangle 180, straight line 180, full turn 360). Trap: temperatures below zero go negative. Celsius and Fahrenheit degrees are different: 0 °C = 32 °F.
In the corpora
- The coldest temperature ever measured at a weather station was about minus 89 degrees Celsius, at Vostok Station in Antarctica in 1983.
- The bombardier beetle mixes two chemicals in its body to make a spray of about 100 degrees that it shoots from its tail end.
- Mediterranean tortoises hibernate, and owners guided by a vet keep them steady at about 5 degrees so they neither wake early nor freeze.
- Vent water can be hotter than three hundred degrees, but it does not boil because of the huge pressure of the deep sea.
- Even a fertilised egg must be kept at about 37 to 38 degrees for 21 days to hatch.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «degree» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.