\Grad"a*to*ry\, a. [See {Grade}.]
1. Proceeding step by step, or by gradations; gradual.
         Could we have seen [Macbeth's] crimes darkening on
         their progress . . . could this gradatory apostasy
         have been shown us.                   --A. Seward.
2. (Zo["o]l.) Suitable for walking; -- said of the limbs of
   an animal when adapted for walking on land.

\Grad"a*to*ry\, n. [Cf. LL. gradatarium.] (Arch.)
A series of steps from a cloister into a church.