Grade

n. [Fr. grade, Sp. & It. grado, Pg. grao, Pr. grat, gra, Lat. gradus, from gradi, to step, go.] 1. A step or degree in any series, rank, or order; relative position or standing; as, grades of military rank; crimes of every grade. While questions, periods, and grades, and privileges are never once formally discussed. S. Miller. 2. (a.) In a railroad or highway, the rate of ascent or descent; usually stated as so many feet per mile, or as one foot rise or fall in so many of horizontal distance; as, a heavy grade; a grade of twenty feet per mile; or of 1 in 264; a gradient; deviation from a level surface to an inclined plane. (b.) A graded ascending or descending portion of a road; a gradient.

[imp. & p. p. GRADED; p. pr. & vb. n. GRADING.] To reduce to a level, or to an evenly progressive ascent, as the line of a canal or road.