Grace (?), n. [F. grâce,
L. gratia, from gratus beloved, dear, agreeable; perh.
akin to Gr. &?; to rejoice, &?; favor, grace, Skr. hary to
desire, and E. yearn. Cf. Grateful, Gratis.]
1. The exercise of love, kindness, mercy, favor;
disposition to benefit or serve another; favor bestowed or privilege
conferred.
To bow and sue for grace
With suppliant knee.
Milton.
2. (Theol.) The divine favor toward
man; the mercy of God, as distinguished from His justice; also, any
benefits His mercy imparts; divine love or pardon; a state of
acceptance with God; enjoyment of the divine favor.
And if by grace, then is it no more of
works.
Rom. xi. 6.
My grace is sufficicnt for thee.
2 Cor. xii. 9.
Where sin abounded, grace did much more
abound.
Rom. v. 20.
By whom also we have access by faith into this
grace wherein we stand.
Rom. v.2
3. (Law) (a) The
prerogative of mercy execised by the executive, as pardon.
(b) The same prerogative when exercised in the
form of equitable relief through chancery.
4. Fortune; luck; -- used commonly with
hard or sorry when it means misfortune. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
5. Inherent excellence; any endowment or
characteristic fitted to win favor or confer pleasure or
benefit.
He is complete in feature and in mind.
With all good grace to grace a gentleman.
Shak.
I have formerly given the general character of Mr.
Addison's style and manner as natural and unaffected, easy and
polite, and full of those graces which a flowery imagination
diffuses over writing.
Blair.
6. Beauty, physical, intellectual, or moral;
loveliness; commonly, easy elegance of manners; perfection of
form.
Grace in women gains the affections sooner, and
secures them longer, than any thing else.
Hazlitt.
I shall answer and thank you again For the gift and
the grace of the gift.
Longfellow.
7. pl. (Myth.) Graceful and
beautiful females, sister goddesses, represented by ancient writers
as the attendants sometimes of Apollo but oftener of Venus. They were
commonly mentioned as three in number; namely, Aglaia, Euphrosyne,
and Thalia, and were regarded as the inspirers of the qualities which
give attractiveness to wisdom, love, and social
intercourse.
The Graces love to weave the rose.
Moore.
The Loves delighted, and the Graces
played.
Prior.
8. The title of a duke, a duchess, or an
archbishop, and formerly of the king of England.
How fares your Grace !
Shak.
9. (Commonly pl.) Thanks.
[Obs.]
Yielding graces and thankings to their lord
Melibeus.
Chaucer.
10. A petition for grace; a blessing asked,
or thanks rendered, before or after a meal.
11. pl. (Mus.) Ornamental notes
or short passages, either introduced by the performer, or indicated
by the composer, in which case the notation signs are called grace
notes, appeggiaturas, turns, etc.
12. (Eng. Universities) An act, vote,
or decree of the government of the institution; a degree or privilege
conferred by such vote or decree. Walton.
13. pl. A play designed to promote or
display grace of motion. It consists in throwing a small hoop from
one player to another, by means of two sticks in the hands of each.
Called also grace hoop or hoops.
Act of grace. See under Act. --
Day of grace (Theol.), the time of
probation, when the offer of divine forgiveness is made and may be
accepted.
That day of grace fleets fast
away.
I. Watts.
--
Days of grace (Com.), the days
immediately following the day when a bill or note becomes due, which
days are allowed to the debtor or payer to make payment in. In Great
Britain and the United States, the days of grace are
three, but in some countries more, the usages of merchants
being different. -- Good graces, favor;
friendship. -- Grace cup. (a)
A cup or vessel in which a health is drunk after grace.
(b) A health drunk after grace has been
said.
The grace cup follows to his sovereign's
health.
Hing.
--
Grace drink, a drink taken on rising from
the table; a grace cup.
To [Queen Margaret, of Scotland] . . . we owe the
custom of the grace drink, she having established it as a rule
at her table, that whosoever staid till grace was said was rewarded
with a bumper.
Encyc. Brit.
--
Grace hoop, a hoop used in playing
graces. See Grace, n., 13. --
Grace note (Mus.), an appoggiatura. See
Appoggiatura, and def. 11 above. -- Grace
stroke, a finishing stoke or touch; a coup de
grace. -- Means of grace, means of
securing knowledge of God, or favor with God, as the preaching of the
gospel, etc. -- To do grace, to reflect
credit upon.
Content to do the profession some
grace.
Shak.
--
To say grace, to render thanks before or
after a meal. -- With a good grace, in a
fit and proper manner grace fully; graciously. -- With a
bad grace, in a forced, reluctant, or perfunctory
manner; ungraciously.
What might have been done with a good grace
would at least
be done with a bad grace.
Macaulay.
Syn. -- Elegance; comeliness; charm; favor; kindness;
mercy. -- Grace, Mercy. These words, though often
interchanged, have each a distinctive and peculiar meaning.
Grace, in the strict sense of the term, is spontaneous favor
to the guilty or undeserving; mercy is kindness or compassion to the
suffering or condemned. It was the grace of God that opened a
way for the exercise of mercy toward men. See
Elegance.
Grace (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Graced (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Gracing (?).] 1. To adorn; to decorate;
to embellish and dignify.
Great Jove and Phoebus graced his noble
line.
Pope.
We are graced with wreaths of
victory.
Shak.
2. To dignify or raise by an act of favor; to
honor.
He might, at his pleasure, grace or disgrace
whom he would
in court.
Knolles.
3. To supply with heavenly grace.
Bp. Hall.
4. (Mus.) To add grace notes,
cadenzas, etc., to.
