n. A handbook used as an aid in a difficult art or practice, specifically, a dictionary of Greek or Latin prosody used as a guide in writing of poetry in Greek or Latin.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. A dictionary of prosody, designed as an aid in writing Greek or Latin poetry.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. A dictionary of prosody designed as an aid in writing Greek or Latin verses.
n. In music, a work consisting wholly or in great part of exercises of gradually increasing difficulty.
Word Usage
"In fact, to tell the truth, it was my cribbing book, and I always kept it by me when I was writing at Athens, like a gradus, a _gradus ad"