Gra*da"tion*al (?), a. By regular steps or gradations; of or pertaining
to gradation.
Grad"a*to*ry (?), a. [See Grade.] 1. Proceeding step by step, or by
gradations; gradual.
Could we have seen [Macbeth's] crimes darkening on their progress .
. . could this gradatory apostasy have been shown us.
A. Seward.
2. (Zoˆl.) Suitable for walking; -- said of the limbs of an animal when
adapted for walking on land.
Grad"a*to*ry, n. [Cf. LL. gradatarium.] (Arch.) A series of steps from
a cloister into a church.
Grade (?), 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.
They also appointed and removed, at their own pleasure, teachers of
every grade.
Buckle.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2. To reduce to a level, or to an evenly progressive ascent, as the
line of a canal or road.
3. (Stock Breeding) To cross with some better breed; to improve the
blood of.
Grade"ly, a. [Cf. AS. grad grade, step, order, fr. L. gradus. See
Grade.] Decent; orderly. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell. -- adv. Decently; in
order. [Prov. Eng.]
Grad"er (?), n. One who grades, or that by means of which grading is
done or facilitated.
Gra"di*ent (?), a. [L. gradiens, p. pr. of gradi to step, to go. See
Grade.] 1. Moving by steps; walking; as, gradient automata. Wilkins.
2. Rising or descending by regular degrees of inclination; as, the
gradient line of a railroad.