Grad"a*to*ry (?), a. [See Grade.]
1.
Proceeding step by step, or by gradations; gradual.
Could we have seen [Macbeth's] crimes darkening on their progress . . . could this gradatory apostasy have been shown us.
A. Seward.
2. Zool.
Suitable for walking; -- said of the limbs of an animal when adapted for walking on land.
© Webster 1913.
Grad"a*to*ry, n. [Cf. LL. gradatarium.] Arch.
A series of steps from a cloister into a church.
© Webster 1913.