GRADE

I. noun Etymology: Latin gradus step, degree, from Latin gradi to step, go; akin to Lithuanian gridyti to go, wander Date: 1526 1. a. a position in a scale of ranks or qualities, a stage in a process, a degree of severity in illness , a class organized for the work of a particular year of a school course, a military or naval rank, 2. a class of things of the same stage or degree, a mark indicating a degree of accomplishment in school, a standard of food quality, 3. the degree of inclination of a road or slope, a datum or reference level, a domestic animal with one parent purebred and the other of inferior breeding, the elementary school system, ~less adjective II. verb (~d; grading) Date: 1659 transitive verb 1. to arrange in ~s ; sort , to arrange in a scale or series, to assign to a ~ or assign a ~ to, to level off to a smooth horizontal or sloping surface, intransitive verb 1. to form a series, blend , to be of a particular ~, gradable adjective III. adjective Date: 1852 being, involving, or yielding domestic animals of improved but not pure stock