grade

noun

• 1a particular level of rank, quality, proficiency, or value:sea salt is usually available in coarse or fine grades [in combination]:high-grade steel
• a level in a salary or employment structure:clerical and secretarial grades
• British a level of importance allocated to a listed building: [as modifier]:a Grade I listed building
• (in historical linguistics) a relative position in a series of forms involving ablaut.
• Zoology a group of animals at a similar evolutionary level.

• 2chiefly North American a mark indicating the quality of a student’s work:I got good grades last semester
• (with specifying ordinal number) those pupils in a school or school system who are grouped by age or ability for teaching at a particular level for a year:she teaches first grade
• British an examination, especially in music:I took grade five and got a distinction

• 3chiefly North American a gradient or slope:just over the crest of a long seven per cent grade

• 4 [usually as modifier] a variety of cattle produced by crossing with a superior breed:grade stock

verb

• 1arrange in or allocate to grades; classify or sort:the timber is graded according to its thickness

• 2chiefly North American give a mark to (a student or a piece of work).

• 3 [no object] pass gradually from one level, especially a shade of colour, into another:the sky graded from blue at the top of the shot to white on the horizon

• 4reduce (a road) to an easy gradient.

• 5cross (livestock) with a superior breed.