third degreen.adj.

1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball ii. lxxxiii. 261 Rue is hoate and dry in the thirde degree [Fr. au tiers degré].

a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) i. v. 130 For he's in the third degree of drinke: hee's drown'd: go looke after him. View more context for this quotation

1716 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad II. v. 676 He got Orsilochus, Diöcleus He, And these descended in the third Degree.

1966 D. G. Tacheron & M. K. Udall Job of Congressman ix. 250 House Rule XIX prohibits amendments in the third degree. An amendment to an amendment is permitted, but not an amendment to an amendment to an amendment.

1772 W. Preston Illustr. Masonry 205 (heading) A charge, to be delivered at Initiation in the Third Degree.

1865 J. How Freemason's Man. (ed. 2) 138 The Third Degree, or the Master Mason.

1865 J. How Freemason's Man. (ed. 2) 138 The Fellow-Craft who is duly qualified by time, on presenting himself as candidate for the third Degree, has to submit himself to an examination of his qualifications as a Craftsman.

1901 Scotsman 5 Apr. 6/4 In the third degree in [Free] Masonry a skull and cross-bones are employed.

1865 Penal Code State of New York xv. i. 192 Maliciously burning in the day time a building, the burning of which in the night time would be arson in the second degree, is arson in the third degree.

1865 Penal Code State of New York xv. ii. 195 Every person who breaks into any dwelling house in the night time, with intent to commit a crime, but under such circumstances as do not constitute the offense of burglary in the first degree, is guilty of burglary in the third degree.

1949 V. C. Branham & S. B. Kutash Encycl. Criminol. 20/2 Assault in the third degree.

1832 G. Dupuytren Leçons Orales I. xvi. 209 Nous avons divisé les brûlures en six degrés ainsi caractérisés:..3° destruction d'une partie de l'épaisseur du corps papillaire.]

1866 C. H. Fagge tr. F. Hebra On Dis. Skin I. xiii. 317 For all practical purposes, the three grades which I have described are sufficient... We may include under burns of the third degree those forms which Dupuytren and others have spoken of as burns of the fourth, fifth and sixth degrees.

1930 J. J. Morton in E. A. Graham Surg. Diagnosis II. 136 Injuries of the first and second degree will leave practically no scarring but serious deformities may result from the third degree burns.

1961 A. S. MacNalty Brit. Med. Dict. 231/2 Classification of burns. Dupuytren's classification: 1st degree..3rd degree..6th degree... Modern classification: superficial burn or partial thickness skin destruction; deep burn or whole thickness skin destruction.

1880 Harvard Lampoon 6 Feb. 166/1 He met the large and celebrated brother of one of his houries. He stopped to greet him, and was surprised at receiving a clip over the head from the brother's cane. This was followed by a personal chastisement in the third degree.]

1900 Everybody's Mag. Nov. 406 From time to time a prisoner..claims to have had the Third Degree administered to him.

1913 Punch 26 Feb. 153/3 The Third Degree of the New York police.

1930 G. B. Shaw Apple Cart i. 15 Boanerges. What do you mean? put me through it? Is this a police office? Pliny. The third degree is not unknown in this palace, my boy.

1976 T. Sharpe Wilt xiii. 136 ‘You don't think they're giving him third degree or anything of that sort?’ ‘My dear fellow, third degree? You've been watching too many old movies on the TV. The police don't use strong~arm methods in this country.’

1926 Scribner's Mag. Aug. 193/1 Everybody at Police Headquarters agreed that it was ominously dull that night. There was scarcely a third-degree assault to disturb the city.

1930 J. J. Morton in E. A. Graham Surg. Diagnosis II. 136 Serious deformities may result from the third degree burns.

1972 B. F. Miller & C. B. Keane Encycl. & Dict. Med. & Nursing 155/1 Third-degree burns damage the epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous tissue.

1976 ‘E. McBain’ Guns (1977) iv. 86 They'd charged Colley with..second-degree assault... Even better than that, Colley's lawyer thought, would be for him to plead guilty to the lesser charge of third-degree assault.

1928 W. Gillette Astounding Crime Torrington Rd. v. 269 The fools in Boston had third-degreed an innocent man to his death.

1929 A. C. Edington & C. Edington Studio Murder Myst. vii. 95 All we got to do is third degree them birds.

1979 C. Watson Blue Murder xiii. 111 He third-degreed me about Birdie... The man just goes on and on.

1944 ‘G. Orwell’ in Horizon Oct. 237 The third-degreeing of the gangster.