Grade.

Grade \Grade\ (gr[=a]d), n. [F. grade, L. gradus step, pace,
   grade, from gradi to step, go. Cf. {Congress}, {Degree},
   {Gradus}.]
   1. A step or degree in any series, rank, quality, order;
      relative position or standing; as, grades of military
      rank; crimes of every grade; grades of flour.
      [1913 Webster]

            They also appointed and removed, at their own
            pleasure,
            teachers of every grade.              --Buckle.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. In a railroad or highway:
      (a) The rate of ascent or descent; gradient; deviation
          from a level surface to an inclined plane; -- 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.
      (b) A graded ascending, descending, or level portion of a
          road; a gradient.
          [1913 Webster]

   3. (Stock Breeding) The result of crossing a native stock
      with some better breed. If the crossbreed have more than
      three fourths of the better blood, it is called high
      grade.
      [1913 Webster]

   {At grade}, on the same level; -- said of the crossing of a
      railroad with another railroad or a highway, when they are
      on the same level at the point of crossing.

   {Down grade}, a descent, as on a graded railroad.

   {Up grade}, an ascent, as on a graded railroad.

   {Equating for grades}. See under {Equate}.

   {Grade crossing}, a crossing at grade.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Grade \Grade\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Graded}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Grading}.]
   1. To arrange in order, steps, or degrees, according to size,
      quality, rank, etc.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To reduce to a level, or to an evenly progressive ascent,
      as the line of a canal or road.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Stock Breeding) To cross with some better breed; to
      improve the blood of.
      [1913 Webster]
    

258 Moby Thesaurus words for "grade":
      acclivity, adjust, align, alphabetize, amount, analyze, arrange,
      array, ascend, ascent, assort, bank, bevel, bezel, blood, bolt,
      bracket, branch, break down, bulk, caliber, calibrate, calibrated,
      cant, careen, caste, catalog, categorize, category, chute, clan,
      class, classify, climb, codify, collate, compass, condition,
      cool off, correct, cut, cut it, dab, decline, declivity, decrease,
      degree, deploy, descend, descent, differentiate, digest, dip,
      dispose, divide, division, downgrade, drag, dress, drop, dub,
      easy slope, echelon, enlarge, equalize, estate, evaluate, even,
      extent, fall, fall away, fall off, fell, file, flatten, fleam,
      flush, form, gauge, gentle slope, glacis, go downhill, go uphill,
      gradate, gradation, gradational, gradient, gradual, graduate,
      graduated, grease, group, grouping, hack it, hanging gardens,
      harmonize, harrow, head, heading, height, helicline, hierarchic,
      hierarchize, hill, hillside, inclination, incline, inclined plane,
      increase, index, interval, keel, kin, label, launching ramp, lay,
      lay down, lay flat, lay level, lay low, lay out, league, lean,
      leaning, leap, level, line up, list, lubricate, make it,
      make the grade, mark, marshal, match, measure, measure up,
      methodize, mow, normalize, notch, nuance, oil, order, organize,
      pacify, pas, pass, peg, period, pigeonhole, pitch, place, plane,
      planish, plaster, plateau, point, position, predicament,
      progressive, proportion, qualify, quiet, race, rake, ramp, range,
      rank, rase, rate, rating, ratio, raze, reach, regular, regularize,
      regulate, remove, retreat, riddle, rise, roll, roll flat, round,
      routinize, rubric, rung, scalar, scale, scarp, scope, score,
      screen, section, separate, sept, set, set up, shade, shade off,
      shadow, shave, shelve, shelving beach, side, sidle, sieve, sift,
      situation, size, slant, slope, smooth, smooth down, smooth out,
      smoothen, sort, sort out, space, stage, stair, standard,
      standardize, standing, state, station, status, steamroll,
      steamroller, steep slope, step, stiff climb, stint, strain,
      stratum, structure, subdivide, subdivision, subgroup, suborder,
      subordinate, succeed, swag, sway, systematize, tabulate, talus,
      tier, tilt, tip, title, track, tranquilize, tread, type, upgrade,
      uprise, year