6. (Genealogy) A certain distance or remove in the line of descent, determining the proximity of blood; one
remove in the chain of relationship; as, a relation in the third or fourth degree.
In the 11th century an opinion began to gain ground in Italy, that third cousins might marry, being in the
seventh degree according to the civil law.
Hallam.
7. (Arith.) Three figures taken together in numeration; thus, 140 is one degree, 222,140 two degrees.
8. (Algebra) State as indicated by sum of exponents; more particularly, the degree of a term is indicated
by the sum of the exponents of its literal factors; thus, a2b3c is a term of the sixth degree. The degree
of a power, or radical, is denoted by its index, that of an equation by the greatest sum of the exponents
of the unknown quantities in any term; thus, ax4 + bx2 = c, and mx2y2 + nyx = p, are both equations of
the fourth degree.
9. (Trig.) A 360th part of the circumference of a circle, which part is taken as the principal unit of measure
for arcs and angles. The degree is divided into 60 minutes and the minute into 60 seconds.
10. A division, space, or interval, marked on a mathematical or other instrument, as on a thermometer.
11. (Mus.) A line or space of the staff.
The short lines and their spaces are added degrees.
Accumulation of degrees. (Eng. Univ.) See under Accumulation. — By degrees, step by step; by
little and little; by moderate advances. "I'll leave it by degrees." Shak. — Degree of a curve or surface
(Geom.), the number which expresses the degree of the equation of the curve or surface in rectilinear
coördinates. A straight line will, in general, meet the curve or surface in a number of points equal to the
degree of the curve or surface and no more. — Degree of latitude (Geog.), on the earth, the distance
on a meridian between two parallels of latitude whose latitudes differ from each other by one degree.
This distance is not the same on different parts of a meridian, on account of the flattened figure of the
earth, being 68.702 statute miles at the equator, and 69.396 at the poles. — Degree of longitude, the
distance on a parallel of latitude between two meridians that make an angle of one degree with each
other at the poles — a distance which varies as the cosine of the latitude, being at the equator 69.16
statute miles. — To a degree, to an extreme; exceedingly; as, mendacious to a degree.
It has been said that Scotsmen . . . are . . . grave to a degree on occasions when races more favored
by nature are gladsome to excess.
Prof. Wilson. Degu
(||De"gu) n. [Native name.] (Zoöl.) A small South American rodent (Octodon Cumingii), of the
family Octodontidæ.
Degust
(De*gust") v. t. [L. degustare: cf. F. déguster. See Gust to taste.] To taste. [Obs.] Cockeram.
Degustation
(Deg`us*ta"tion) n. [L. degustatio: cf. F. dégustation.] (Physiol.) Tasting; the appreciation
of sapid qualities by the taste organs. Bp. Hall.
Dehisce
(De*hisce") v. i. [L. dehiscere; de- + hiscere to gape.] To gape; to open by dehiscence.
Dehiscence
(De*his"cence) n. [Cf. F. déhiscence.]
1. The act of gaping.
2. (Biol.) A gaping or bursting open along a definite line of attachment or suture, without tearing, as in
the opening of pods, or the bursting of capsules at maturity so as to emit seeds, etc.; also, the bursting
open of follicles, as in the ovaries of animals, for the expulsion of their contents.
