Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Scotch rite \Scotch rite\ (Freemasonry)
   The ceremonial observed by one of the

   {Masonic systems}, called in full the Ancient and Accepted
      Scotch Rite; also, the system itself, which confers
      thirty-three degrees, of which the first three are nearly
      identical with those of the York rite.