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third degree

 - 7 dictionary results

third degree

 
Use third degree in a Sentence
–noun
1. intensive questioning or rough treatment, esp. by the police, in order to get information or a confession.
2. the degree of master mason in Freemasonry.
Origin:
1860–65

third-de⋅gree

  [thurd-di-gree] verb, -greed, -gree⋅ing, adjective
–verb (used with object)
1. to subject to the third degree.
–adjective
2. of or pertaining to the third degree.
Origin:
1895–1900, Americanism
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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third degree  
n.  Mental or physical torture used to obtain information or a confession from a prisoner.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
third degree

  1. n.
    a session of questioning, usually by the police. : Bart got the third degree, but—being the thoroughbred he is—he was a clam. , They gave Spike the third degree, but he refused to say anything.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

third degree 
"intense interrogation by police," 1900, probably a reference to Third Degree of master mason in Freemasonry (1772), the conferring of which included an interrogation ceremony. Third degree as a measure of severity of burns (most severe) is attested from 1866, from Fr. (1832); in Amer.Eng., as a definition of the seriousness of a particular type of crime (the least serious type) it is recorded from 1865.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: third degree
Function: noun
: the grade given to the third most serious forms of crimes —third–degree adjective
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Idioms & Phrases

third degree

Intensive questioning or rough treatment used to obtain information or a confession, as in The detectives gave her the third degree, or Jim gave her the third degree when she came home so late. This term comes from freemasonry, where a candidate receives the third or highest degree, that of master mason, upon passing an intensive test. Dating from the 1770s, the phrase was transferred to other kinds of interrogation in the late 1800s.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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