grade

/grayd/, n., v., graded, grading.

n.

1. a degree or step in a scale, as of rank, advancement, quality, value, or intensity: the best grade of paper.

2. a class of persons or things of the same relative rank, quality, etc.

3. a step or stage in a course or process.

4. a single division of a school classified according to the age or progress of the pupils. In the U.S., public schools are commonly divided into twelve grades below college.

5. the pupils in such a division.

6. grades, elementary school (usually prec. by the): He first began teaching in the grades.

7. a letter, number, or other symbol indicating the relative quality of a student's work in a course, examination, or special assignment; mark.

8. a classification or standard of food based on quality, size, etc.: grade A milk.

9. inclination with the horizontal of a road, railroad, etc., usually expressed by stating the vertical rise or fall as a percentage of the horizontal distance; slope.

10. Building Trades. Also called grade line. the level at which the ground intersects the foundation of a building.

11. an animal resulting from a cross between a parent of ordinary stock and one of a pure breed.

12. Math. grad².

13. at grade,

a. on the same level: A railroad crosses a highway at grade.

b. (of a stream bed) so adjusted to conditions of slope and the volume and speed of water that no gain or loss of sediment takes place.

14. make the grade, to attain a specific goal; succeed: He'll never make the grade in medical school.

15. up to grade, of the desired or required quality: This shipment is not up to grade.

v.t.

16. to arrange in a series of grades; class; sort: a machine that grades two thousand eggs per hour.

17. to determine the grade of.

18. to assign a grade to (a student's work); mark: I graded forty tests last night.

19. to cause to pass by degrees, as from one color or shade to another.

20. to reduce to a level or to practicable degrees of inclination: to grade a road.

21. to cross (an ordinary or low-grade animal) with an animal of a pure or superior breed.

v.i.

22. to incline; slant or slope: The road grades steeply for a mile.

23. to be of a particular grade or quality.

24. to pass by degrees from one color or shade to another; blend: See how the various colors grade into one another.

25. grade up, to improve (a herd, flock, etc.) by breeding with purebreds.

[1505-15; < F: office < L gradus step, stage, degree, deriv. of gradi to go, step, walk]

Syn. 16. classify, rank, rate, order, categorize.

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