third degree (n.)

"intense interrogation by police," 1900, probably a reference to Third Degree of master mason in Freemasonry (1772), the conferring of which included an interrogation ceremony. Third degree as a measure of severity of burns (most severe) is attested from 1866, from French (1832); in American English, as a definition of the seriousness of a particular type of crime (the least serious type) it is recorded from 1865.

also from 1900

Trends of third degree

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to Explore

tertiary

1650s, "of the third order, rank, degree, etc.," from Latin tertiarius "of or pertaining to a third," from tertius "third..., a third," from root of tres "three" (see three)....

tertium quid

something indeterminate between two other things, 1724, Latin, literally "third something," from tertius "third, a third,...The Latin word also figures in phrases tertium non datur "no third possibility exists," and tertius gaudens "a third party...

tierce

old unit of liquid measure equal to one-third of a pipe (42 gallons), 1530s, from Anglo-French ters, Old French tierce (11c....). used in the sense "one-third" in various ways, from Latin tertia, fem. of tertius "a third," from PIE *tri-tyo-, from...Also used in Middle English for "a third part" (late 15c.), "the third hour of the canonical day" (ending at 9 a.m.), late...

least

phrase at least "not to say more than is certainly true" is Middle English æt læstan, from the notion of "at the lowest degree...As a noun, "smallest admissible quantity or degree," from early 12c.; as an adverb, Old English læst "in the least degree...

floruit

"period during which a historical person's life work was done," 1843, Latin, literally "he flourished," third person singular...The third person singular present subjunctive of the verb, floreat, sometimes is attached to proper names "to indicate the...

baccalaureate

1620s, "university degree of a bachelor," from Modern Latin baccalaureatus, from baccalaureus "student with the first degree...," an alteration of Medieval Latin baccalarius "one who has attained the lowest degree in a university, an advanced student...This is from the word's adjectival sense of "pertaining to the university degree of bachelor."...

grade

1510s, "degree of measurement," from French grade "grade, degree" (16c.), from Latin gradus "a step, a pace, gait; a step...climbed (on a ladder or stair);" figuratively "a step toward something, a degree of something rising by stages," from gradi...It replaced Middle English gree "a step, degree in a series," from Old French grei "step," from Latin gradus....

degree

c. 1200, "a step, a stair," also "a position in a hierarchy," and "a stage of progress, a single movement toward an end," from Old French degré (12c.) "a step (of a stair), pace, degree (of relationship), academic degree; rank, status, position," which is said to be from Vulgar L

soccer

1889, socca, later socker (1891), soccer (1895), originally university slang (with jocular formation -er (3)), from a shortened form of Assoc., abbreviation of association in Football Association (as distinguished from Rugby football). An unusual formation, but those who did it p

iron

Middle English iron, iren, yron, from Old English iren, variant (with rhotacism of -s-) of isen, later form of isern, isærn "the metal iron; an iron weapon or instrument," from Proto-Germanic *isarn (source also of Old Saxon isarn, Old Frisian isern, Old Norse isarn, Middle Dutch

Share third degree

‘cite’

Page URL:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/third degree

HTML Link:

<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/third degree">Etymology of third degree by etymonline</a>

APA style:

Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of third degree. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved $(datetime), from https://www.etymonline.com/word/third degree

Chicago style:

Harper Douglas, “Etymology of third degree,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed $(datetime), https://www.etymonline.com/word/third degree.

MLA style:

Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of third degree.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/third degree. Accessed $(datetimeMla).

IEEE style:

D. Harper. “Etymology of third degree.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/third degree (accessed $(datetime)).

updated on September 28, 2017

Remove ads >

Trending words

1. abide
2. catholic
3. testimony
4. prune
5. integrity
6. respect
7. miracle
8. heaven
9. think
10. heart

Dictionary entries near third degree

thinkable

thinker

thinking

thinner

third

third degree

Third World

thirl

thirst

thirsty

thirteen