01 n. The exercise of love, kindness, mercy, favor; disposition to benefit or serve another; favor bestowed or privilege conferred.
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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.
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2.
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.(Theol.)“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
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3.
The prerogative of mercy execised by the executive, as pardon.(Law)
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4.
Fortune; luck; -- used commonly with hard or sorry when it means misfortune.[Obs.]
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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.
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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.
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7.
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.(Myth.)“The Graces love to weave the rose.” — Moore.“The Loves delighted, and the Graces played.” — Prior.
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8.
The title of a duke, a duchess, or an archbishop, and formerly of the king of England.“How fares your Grace !” — Shak.
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9.
Thanks.(Commonly pl.) [Obs.]“Yielding graces and thankings to their lord Melibeus.” — Chaucer.
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10.
A petition for grace; a blessing asked, or thanks rendered, before or after a meal.
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11.
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.(Mus.)
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12.
An act, vote, or decree of the government of the institution; a degree or privilege conferred by such vote or decree.(Eng. Universities)
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13.
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. Also: grace hoop, hoops“That day of grace fleets fast away.” — I. Watts.“The grace cup follows to his sovereign's health.” — Hing.“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.“Content to do the profession some grace.” — Shak.“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.