Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Graduate \Grad"u*ate\, n. [LL. graduatus, p. p. of graduare to
   admit to a degree, fr. L. gradus grade. See {Grade}, n.]
   1. One who has received an academical or professional degree;
      one who has completed the prescribed course of study in
      any school or institution of learning.

   2. A graduated cup, tube, or flask; a measuring glass used by
      apothecaries and chemists. See under {Graduated}.

Graduate \Grad"u*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Graduated}p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Graduating}.] [Cf. F. graduer. See {Graduate}, n.,
   {Grade}.]
   1. To mark with degrees; to divide into regular steps,
      grades, or intervals, as the scale of a thermometer, a
      scheme of punishment or rewards, etc.

   2. To admit or elevate to a certain grade or degree; esp., in
      a college or university, to admit, at the close of the
      course, to an honorable standing defined by a diploma; as,
      he was graduated at Yale College.

   3. To prepare gradually; to arrange, temper, or modify by
      degrees or to a certain degree; to determine the degrees
      of; as, to graduate the heat of an oven.

            Dyers advance and graduate their colors with salts.
                                                  --Browne.

   4. (Chem.) To bring to a certain degree of consistency, by
      evaporation, as a fluid.

   {Graduating engine}, a dividing engine. See {Dividing}
      engine, under {Dividing}.

Graduate \Grad"u*ate\, a. [See {Graduate}, n. & v.]
   Arranged by successive steps or degrees; graduated.

         Beginning with the genus, passing through all the
         graduate and subordinate stages.         --Tatham.

Graduate \Grad"u*ate\, v. i.
   1. To pass by degrees; to change gradually; to shade off; as,
      sandstone which graduates into gneiss; carnelian sometimes
      graduates into quartz.

   2. (Zo["o]l.) To taper, as the tail of certain birds.

   3. To take a degree in a college or university; to become a
      graduate; to receive a diploma.

            He graduated at Oxford.               --Latham.

            He was brought to their bar and asked where he had
            graduated.                            --Macaulay.

Source : WordNet®

graduate
     v 1: receive an academic degree upon completion of one's studies;
          "She graduated in 1990"
     2: confer an academic degree upon; "This school graduates 2,000
        students each year"
     3: make fine adjustments or divide into marked intervals for
        optimal measuring; "calibrate an instrument"; "graduate a
        cylinder" [syn: {calibrate}, {fine-tune}]

graduate
     adj : of or relating to studies beyond a bachelor's degree;
           "graduate courses" [syn: {graduate(a)}, {postgraduate}]

graduate
     n 1: a person who has received a degree from a school (high
          school or college or university) [syn: {alumnus}, {alumna},
           {alum}, {grad}]
     2: a measuring instrument for measuring fluid volume; a glass
        container (cup or cylinder or flask) whose sides are
        marked with or divided into amounts