The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Master \Mas"ter\ (m[.a]s"t[~e]r), n. [OE. maistre, maister, OF.
   maistre, mestre, F. ma[^i]tre, fr. L. magister, orig. a
   double comparative from the root of magnus great, akin to Gr.
   me`gas. Cf. Maestro, Magister, Magistrate, Magnitude,
   Major, Mister, Mistress, Mickle.]
   1. A male person having another living being so far subject
      to his will, that he can, in the main, control his or its
      actions; -- formerly used with much more extensive
      application than now.
      (a) The employer of a servant.
      (b) The owner of a slave.
      (c) The person to whom an apprentice is articled.
      (d) A sovereign, prince, or feudal noble; a chief, or one
          exercising similar authority.
      (e) The head of a household.
      (f) The male head of a school or college.
      (g) A male teacher.
      (h) The director of a number of persons performing a
          ceremony or sharing a feast.
      (i) The owner of a docile brute, -- especially a dog or
          horse.
      (j) The controller of a familiar spirit or other
          supernatural being.
          [1913 Webster]

   2. One who uses, or controls at will, anything inanimate; as,
      to be master of one's time. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Master of a hundred thousand drachms. --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

            We are masters of the sea.            --Jowett
                                                  (Thucyd.).
      [1913 Webster]

   3. One who has attained great skill in the use or application
      of anything; as, a master of oratorical art.
      [1913 Webster]

            Great masters of ridicule.            --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

            No care is taken to improve young men in their own
            language, that they may thoroughly understand and be
            masters of it.                        --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. A title given by courtesy, now commonly pronounced
      m[i^]ster, except when given to boys; -- sometimes written
      Mister, but usually abbreviated to Mr.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. A young gentleman; a lad, or small boy.
      [1913 Webster]

            Where there are little masters and misses in a
            house, they are impediments to the diversions of the
            servants.                             --Swift.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. (Naut.) The commander of a merchant vessel; -- usually
      called captain. Also, a commissioned officer in the navy
      ranking next above ensign and below lieutenant; formerly,
      an officer on a man-of-war who had immediate charge, under
      the commander, of sailing the vessel.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. A person holding an office of authority among the
      Freemasons, esp. the presiding officer; also, a person
      holding a similar office in other civic societies.
      [1913 Webster]

   Little masters, certain German engravers of the 16th
      century, so called from the extreme smallness of their
      prints.

   Master in chancery, an officer of courts of equity, who
      acts as an assistant to the chancellor or judge, by
      inquiring into various matters referred to him, and
      reporting thereon to the court.

   Master of arts, one who takes the second degree at a
      university; also, the degree or title itself, indicated by
      the abbreviation M. A., or A. M.

   Master of the horse, the third great officer in the British
      court, having the management of the royal stables, etc. In
      ceremonial cavalcades he rides next to the sovereign.

   Master of the rolls, in England, an officer who has charge
      of the rolls and patents that pass the great seal, and of
      the records of the chancery, and acts as assistant judge
      of the court. --Bouvier. --Wharton.

   Past master,
      (a) one who has held the office of master in a lodge of
          Freemasons or in a society similarly organized.
      (b) a person who is unusually expert, skilled, or
          experienced in some art, technique, or profession; --
          usually used with at or of.

   The old masters, distinguished painters who preceded modern
      painters; especially, the celebrated painters of the 16th
      and 17th centuries.

   To be master of one's self, to have entire self-control;
      not to be governed by passion.

   To be one's own master, to be at liberty to act as one
      chooses without dictation from anybody.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Master, signifying chief, principal, masterly,
         superior, thoroughly skilled, etc., is often used
         adjectively or in compounds; as, master builder or
         master-builder, master chord or master-chord, master
         mason or master-mason, master workman or
         master-workman, master mechanic, master mind, master
         spirit, master passion, etc.
         [1913 Webster]

               Throughout the city by the master gate.
                                                  --Chaucer.
         [1913 Webster]

   Master joint (Geol.), a quarryman's term for the more
      prominent and extended joints traversing a rock mass.

   Master key, a key adapted to open several locks differing
      somewhat from each other; figuratively, a rule or
      principle of general application in solving difficulties.


   Master lode (Mining), the principal vein of ore.

   Master mariner, an experienced and skilled seaman who is
      certified to be competent to command a merchant vessel.

   Master sinew (Far.), a large sinew that surrounds the hough
      of a horse, and divides it from the bone by a hollow
      place, where the windgalls are usually seated.

   Master singer. See Mastersinger.

   Master stroke, a capital performance; a masterly
      achievement; a consummate action; as, a master stroke of
      policy.

   Master tap (Mech.), a tap for forming the thread in a screw
      cutting die.

   Master touch.
      (a) The touch or skill of a master. --Pope.
      (b) Some part of a performance which exhibits very
          skillful work or treatment. "Some master touches of
          this admirable piece." --Tatler.

   Master work, the most important work accomplished by a
      skilled person, as in architecture, literature, etc.;
      also, a work which shows the skill of a master; a
      masterpiece.

   Master workman, a man specially skilled in any art,
      handicraft, or trade, or who is an overseer, foreman, or
      employer.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Degree \De*gree"\, n. [F. degr['e], OF. degret, fr. LL.
   degradare. See Degrade.]
   1. A step, stair, or staircase. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            By ladders, or else by degree.        --Rom. of R.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. One of a series of progressive steps upward or downward,
      in quality, rank, acquirement, and the like; a stage in
      progression; grade; gradation; as, degrees of vice and
      virtue; to advance by slow degrees; degree of comparison.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. The point or step of progression to which a person has
      arrived; rank or station in life; position. "A dame of
      high degree." --Dryden. "A knight is your degree." --Shak.
      "Lord or lady of high degree." --Lowell.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Measure of advancement; quality; extent; as, tastes differ
      in kind as well as in degree.
      [1913 Webster]

            The degree of excellence which proclaims genius, is
            different in different times and different places.
                                                  --Sir. J.
                                                  Reynolds.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. Grade or rank to which scholars are admitted by a college
      or university, in recognition of their attainments; also,
      (informal) the diploma provided by an educational
      institution attesting to the achievement of that rank; as,
      the degree of bachelor of arts, master, doctor, etc.; to
      hang one's degrees on the office wall.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

   Note: In the United States diplomas are usually given as the
         evidence of a degree conferred. In the humanities the
         first degree is that of bachelor of arts (B. A. or A.
         B.); the second that of master of arts (M. A. or A.
         M.). The degree of bachelor (of arts, science,
         divinity, law, etc.) is conferred upon those who
         complete a prescribed course of undergraduate study.
         The first degree in medicine is that of doctor of
         medicine (M. D.). The degrees of master and doctor are
         also conferred, in course, upon those who have
         completed certain prescribed postgraduate studies, as
         doctor of philosophy (Ph. D.); the degree of doctor
         is also conferred as a complimentary recognition of
         eminent services in science or letters, or for public
         services or distinction (as doctor of laws (LL. D.)
         or doctor of divinity (D. D.), when they are called
         honorary degrees.
         [1913 Webster]

               The youth attained his bachelor's degree, and
               left the university.               --Macaulay.
         [1913 Webster]

   6. (Genealogy) A certain distance or remove in the line of
      descent, determining the proximity of blood; one remove in
      the chain of relationship; as, a relation in the third or
      fourth degree.
      [1913 Webster]

            In the 11th century an opinion began to gain ground
            in Italy, that third cousins might marry, being in
            the seventh degree according to the civil law.
                                                  --Hallam.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. (Arith.) Three figures taken together in numeration; thus,
      140 is one degree, 222,140 two degrees.
      [1913 Webster]

   8. (Algebra) State as indicated by sum of exponents; more
      particularly, the degree of a term is indicated by the sum
      of the exponents of its literal factors; thus, a^2b^3c
      is a term of the sixth degree. The degree of a power, or
      radical, is denoted by its index, that of an equation by
      the greatest sum of the exponents of the unknown
      quantities in any term; thus, ax^4 + bx^2 = c, and
      mx^2y^2 + nyx = p, are both equations of the fourth
      degree.
      [1913 Webster]

   9. (Trig.) A 360th part of the circumference of a circle,
      which part is taken as the principal unit of measure for
      arcs and angles. The degree is divided into 60 minutes and
      the minute into 60 seconds.
      [1913 Webster]

   10. A division, space, or interval, marked on a mathematical
       or other instrument, as on a thermometer.

   11. (Mus.) A line or space of the staff.
       [1913 Webster]

   Note: The short lines and their spaces are added degrees.
         [1913 Webster]

   Accumulation of degrees. (Eng. Univ.) See under
      Accumulation.

   By degrees, step by step; by little and little; by moderate
      advances. "I'll leave it by degrees." --Shak.

   Degree of a curve or Degree of a surface (Geom.), the
      number which expresses the degree of the equation of the
      curve or surface in rectilinear coordinates. A straight
      line will, in general, meet the curve or surface in a
      number of points equal to the degree of the curve or
      surface and no more.

   Degree of latitude (Geog.), on the earth, the distance on a
      meridian between two parallels of latitude whose latitudes
      differ from each other by one degree. This distance is not
      the same on different parts of a meridian, on account of
      the flattened figure of the earth, being 68.702 statute
      miles at the equator, and 69.396 at the poles.

   Degree of longitude, the distance on a parallel of latitude
      between two meridians that make an angle of one degree
      with each other at the poles -- a distance which varies as
      the cosine of the latitude, being at the equator 69.16
      statute miles.

   To a degree, to an extreme; exceedingly; as, mendacious to
      a degree.
      [1913 Webster]

            It has been said that Scotsmen . . . are . . . grave
            to a degree on occasions when races more favored by
            nature are gladsome to excess.        --Prof.
                                                  Wilson.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

Master of Arts
    n 1: a master's degree in arts and sciences [syn: Master of
         Arts, MA, Artium Magister, AM]