grade

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
grade/ɡreɪd/

▶noun

• 1 a particular level of rank, quality, proficiency, or value.

  ■ Linguistics a relative position in a series of forms involving ablaut.

• 2 a mark indicating the quality of a student's work.

  ■ N. Amer. (with specifying ordinal number) those pupils in a school who are grouped by age or ability for teaching at a particular level for a year: she teaches first grade.

• 3 chiefly N. Amer. a gradient or slope.

• 4 a variety of cattle produced by crossing with a superior breed.

▶verb

• 1 arrange in or allocate to grades.

• 2 chiefly N. Amer. give a mark to (a student's work).

• 3 pass gradually from one level to another.

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

• 5 cross (livestock) with a superior breed.

– phrases
at grade N. Amer. on the same level.
make the grade informal succeed.

– origin C16: from Fr., or from L. gradus ‘step’.