| 释义 |
▪ I. grade, n.|greɪd|
[a. F. grade, ad. L. grad-us step; cf. Sp. and It. grado. (The regular representative of L. gradus in OF. was gré: see gree.)
Not in Johnson 1755; noted by Todd 1819 as not yet in established use.]
1. Math.
†a. A degree of angular measurement, or of latitude or longitude; the 90th part of a right angle or quadrant; = degree 9, 9 b. Obs.
c15111st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 29/2 They of Lussbone in vnder yat forsayde linie .xxxix. grade and one halfe. 1571Digges Pantom. i. Elem. c, A Quadrant is..diuided in 90 portions, which partes are named grades or degrees. 1593Eale Dialling 60 The Grades or Degrees are found in the upper head of this Table, and the Minutes pertaining to the degres on y⊇ left side.
b. In the centesimal mode of dividing angular quantity: The hundredth part of a right angle.
1801Dupré Neolog. Fr. Dict. 127 Grade..the grade, or decimal degree of the meridian. 1833Snowball Plane Trigonom. (1837) 5 To find the relation between E and F, the number of degrees and grades contained in the same angle BAC. 1968Times 24 June 25/5 May I make a plea that the makers of theodolites cease producing circles marked in the sexagesimal system and use the metric system—that is, divide a right angle into 100 grades?
†2. One of a flight of steps; = degree 1. Obs.—1
1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 286 Causeways..at every Tank ascended or descended by Marble Grades, while the Horse-way was sloped.
3. A step or stage in a process; rarely spec. a step in preferment. (Cf. degree 2.)
1796W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. XIX. 517 If a quantity of paper-money pass through all the successive grades of depreciation. 1798― in Monthly Mag. VI. 553 He was a skilful pupil, and had attained the highest grade of initiation. 1851Carpenter Man. Phys. (ed. 2) 238 That highest grade of development which it [the brain] possesses in Man. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 403 The steps or grades by which he rises from sense and the shadows of sense to the idea of beauty and good. 1879G. Meredith Egoist xxxix. (1889) 385 As a barrister, diplomatist, or a general, he would have won his grades. 1884tr. Lotze's Metaph. 434 Countless different grades which it [the soul] traverses by degrees when first it is being formed.
4. a. A degree or position in the scale of rank, dignity, social station, eminence, proficiency, etc. (Cf. degree 4.)
1808E. S. Barrett Miss-led General 32 At seventeen, having hopped, skipped, and jumped through all the inferior grades..he became colonel. 1830Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. 67 If on comparing the very lowest states in civilized and savage life, we admit a difficulty in deciding to which the preference is due, at least in every superior grade we cannot hesitate a moment. a1862Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. v. 288 Teachers of every grade, from village school⁓masters to tutors in private families. 1866Crump Banking ii. 47 Unfortunate officers of all grades. 1868J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 396 The minor orders were holy orders as well as the three higher grades of the ministry. 1873Burton Hist. Scot. VI. lxxiii. 321 He was a man of an inferior grade and nature. 1890Boldrewood Col. Reformer (1891) 215 The companionship of some one nearly approaching his own grade.
b. A number of persons holding the same relative social rank or official dignity; a class.
1827Linc. & Lincolnsh. Cabinet 7 Any artist skilled in delineating the lower grades of human life. 1837Dickens Pickw. ii, The solicitors' wives and the wine merchant's wife headed another grade. 1858J. B. Norton Topics 112 Regulating the numbers and grades to be withdrawn for staff employ. 1873Burton Hist. Scot. VI. lxvii. 101 Promotion in the higher grades of the Church. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. xlix. 253 The public Schools..are everywhere and in all grades gratuitous. 1897Daily News 24 Feb. 7/5 All grades of railway employés were now organized.
c. A class at school in relation to advancement. (Cf. graded ppl. a. 2.) N. Amer.
1835Southern Lit. Messenger I. 275 In the first and second grades boys and girls are schooled together. 1852Indiana Hist. Soc. Publ. III. 619 Qualified to teach in any of the grades, from the primary to the grammar school. 1903A. B. Hart Actual Govt. Amer. Conditions 543 Many cities have public kindergartens, which take children of 4 to 5 years of age in hand and teach them simple beginnings. The next division is usually the primary, extending over 3 to 6 years, followed by about 4 years of the grammar school; these two systems taken together are often called simply ‘the grades’. 1904O. H. Lang in Forum (U.S.) Oct. 268 Polite conduct and usages might advantageously be taught in the grades and in the high school. 1906C. A. McMurry (title) Course of study in the eight grades. 1909Springfield (Mass.) Weekly Republican 18 Feb. 2 In the British isles the classes are designated standards and these are supposed to correspond to our grades. 1934W. Saroyan Daring Young Man (1935) 75 A little girl named Maxine, in the third grade. 1967Atlantic Monthly Apr. 102/2 My plan after being passed out of Grade VIII, King Edward School, was to go with my best girlfriend. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 8/4 Ontario..will have public French education from Grade 1 through university. 1970Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. 1968 l. 50 Attended Memphis public schools. Completed fifth grade.
d. A mark (usu. alphabetical) indicating an assessment of the year's work, examination papers, etc., of a student.
1886Ann. Rep. Pres. Harvard 1885–6 72 The marks received by a student in the several studies of his college course have until now been combined to determine the grade of his degree. 1889Harvard Faculty Rec. 15 Oct., Any member of the graduating class who has attained Grade C or a higher grade in eighteen courses [etc.]. 1963Barnard & Lauwerys Handbk. Brit. Educ. Terms 101 Grading, a method of placing pupils in groups according to their academic attainment in examinations or tests. Frequently five grades, named A, B, C, D, E, are used. 1964Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 10 June (1970) 163 Her grades were excellent and she planned to go to the University of Southwestern Louisiana. 1966Rep. Comm. Inquiry Univ. Oxf. II. 68 Where more than three A levels in different subjects had been taken, the rating is based on the three best grades. Ibid. 463 Questionnaire for Schools Survey... What had been their performance in ‘A’ Level examinations (subjects attempted and grades achieved).
5. a. In things: A degree of comparative quality or value. b. A class of things, constituted by having the same quality or value.
1807J. Marshall Life of Washington V. 213 To talents of the highest grade, he united a patient industry. 1816U. Brown Jrnl. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1915) X. 274 Jack Oaks of the meanest grade. 1818H. B. Fearon Sk. Amer. 30 Neither trades are (to use an Americanism) of the first grade. Ibid. 191 Because their neighbour's face was (to use their own phrase) a grade darker than their own. 1833H. Martineau Berkeley the Banker i. v. 99 On either side of Miss Egg, various grades of tippets and bonnets. 1853Kingsley Hypatia v. 60 The furniture of the chamber was but a grade above that of the artisan's. 1880Manch. Guard. 27 Nov., Low grades [of cotton] are again decidedly dearer. 1884York Herald 26 Aug. 7/2 Tea: The tone of the market is firm, and most grades are rather dearer. 1893F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 354 The ore was of such low grade that it would not pay to work it.
c. grade A, Grade A: of the highest grade in value, of the best or highest quality; hence colloq. (occas. ironically), extremely good, first-rate.
1911Proc. 5th Ann. Conf. Amer. Assoc. Medical Milk Commissions 100 On or soon after the first of January 1912, there will be three grades of milk, A, B, and C. Grade A—for infants, children, and adults certified (or equivalent such as guaranteed)... Grade B—for adults only, Pasteurized... Grade C—for cooking purposes only. 1920Collier's 20 Mar. 35/3 All you could see was her little peaches and grade A cream face stickin' out over the top. 1935N. Mitchison We have been Warned iv. 385 She'd always insisted on Grade A milk. 1936A. Thirkell August Folly i. 10 A very fine herd of cows which supply Grade A milk, at prices fixed by the Milk Marketing Board. 1942O. Nash Good Intentions 45 Give me a grade-A May day. 1948H. R. Davidson Prod. Market. Pigs iv. 51 The ‘basic price’ was the price for a Grade C pig in each class. Bonuses above and reductions below the basic prices applied to Grades A and B and to D and E. 1968R. Stout Father Hunt (1969) xiv. 161 If the fingerprints didn't match we were left with a Grade A mess.
6. Path. Of a disease: Degree or condition of intensity.
1803Med. Jrnl. X. 369 The subordinate forms and grades of fever, not arrested within forty-eight or seventy-two hours, invariably passed on to the malignant grade of disease. 1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 645 The captain..died with every symptom of the highest grade of yellow remittent fever. 1858Copland Dict. Pract. Med. II. 444/2 Partial Insanity—the simpler forms and slighter grades of mental disorder. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 404 Those cases in which the fever attains a high grade.
7. With reference to animals: A result of cross-breeding, a hybrid. Now techn. in cattle-breeders' language, a variety of animal produced by crossing a native stock with a superior breed; also attrib.
1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 196 The other sort is..the Ranging Bear, and seems to be a grade between the preceding and the wolf. 1851J. F. W. Johnston Notes N. Amer. I. vi. 164 Most of the stock are grades, as they are called, or crosses of the pure Devon bull with the older stock of the country. 1852Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. III. 142 A few full blood Saxons; the rest are a grade sheep. Ibid. 182 My cattle are yet grades, and am getting rid of them as fast as possible. Ibid. 184 One good grade sow. 1857Ibid. VIII. 707 The greatest show, however, for number and size, was among the grades and natives. 1882Rep. Maine Board Agric. XXVI. 168 In every dairy of six cows I would keep not less than two Jerseys, or their grades. 1883C. Wilson in Harper's Mag. Jan. 272/2 Grade animals in a well-managed dairy can be made..quite as productive as thorough-breds. 1883Pall Mall G. 21 Sept. 12/1 Hereford grade steer calves. 1891Daily News 24 Nov. 5/4 There is room for a..trade in fat grade lambs between Canada and Britain. 1939[see Afrikaner 2]. 1945New England Homestead 13 Oct. 9/2 If you mess around with breedin' purebreds a while longer you'll be so much in love that you'll never go back t' keepin' grades. 1949Caribbean Q. I. ii. 36 A small herd of grade red poll cattle was maintained. 1970Daily Nation (Nairobi) 16 Jan. 17/4 Cattle rearing is not encouraging but grade cattle has [sic] been introduced in some areas.
8. Zool.
a. In the genetic classification of animals, a group constituted by the fact that its members are presumed to have branched from the common stem at about the same point of its development.
1877E. R. Lankester Notes on Embryology, etc. in Qly. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. New Ser. XVII. 440 [The writer refers to grade as a new term introduced by himself.] Whilst all other terms indicate branches of the pedigree diverging from a very nearly common point..the various ‘grades’ are introduced to separate the starting-points of the branches; a certain advance in differentiation of structure separates the branches of a higher grade from those of a lower.
b. A group of animals at a similar level of development, but not necessarily having a common genetic origin. Cf. clade n.2
1957J. S. Huxley in Nature 7 Sept. 455/2 Stasi⁓genesis results in the formation of delimitable and persistent anagenetic units, or grades. 1958― in Uppsala Univ. Årsskrift vi. 27 The best general term for such anagenetic units would seem to be grade. 1961G. G. Simpson Princ. Animal Taxon. iv. 126 That grade is..now known to have been reached independently by a considerable number of different clades. 1967R. E. Blackwelder Taxon. xiii. 220 It is not uncommon to interpolate such levels as Branch, Grade, and Series between Subkingdom and Phyla.
9. Philol.
a. The position occupied in an ablaut-series by a particular vowel or form of a root.
b. Applied (after Grimm's use of G. grad) to denote the class of a consonant as ‘tenuis’ or ‘media’ (see quot. 1872). rare—1.
1872Beames Comp. Gram. Aryan Lang. India I. iii. 190 Initial consonants retain the grade of each organ in the purest and truest way..By the expression ‘grade’ must be understood the two classes of tenues and mediæ. 1891Mayhew O.E. Phonology p. xvi, The double colon (::) occurring between forms of words, is used to indicate ‘ablaut’ or change of grade in a vowel series.
10. U.S.
a. In a road, railway, etc.: Amount of inclination to the horizontal; rate of ascent or descent; = gradient n.
1835Jrnl. Franklin Inst. XV. 230 From whence it [the route of a proposed railroad] continues in nearly a direct course, rising at a grade of about twenty feet to the mile. 1840Tanner Canals & Rail Roads U.S. 78 The grades vary from a level to an inclination of 1 in 330. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. III. vi. cxiv. 641 A railroad line of gentle grade. 1898in Westm. Gaz. 19 Jan. 2/1 The relations that should exist between the grade of a sewer, its size, and the volume of flush water required to produce a given effect. 1898in Daily News 81 May 10/3 The river you enter after leaving Lake Lebarge..has a big grade.
b. An inclined portion of a railway or road; a slope, an ascent or descent. Also down grade, up grade.
1811Deb. Congress U.S. (1853) 8 May 2171/1 Each grade of the [Cumberland] road to be perfectly levelled. 1850R. Glisan Jrnl. Army Life (1874) ii. 12 The cars are moved on these heavy grades by stationary engines. 1861Harper's Mag. Jan. 147/1 The descent of the ‘grade’ was the next rough feature in our day's journey... The trail on the grade was slippery with sleet, and walking upon it was out of the question. 1883Times 27 Mar. 3/6 Owing to the incomplete condition of the grades previously made..rapid progress could not be made. 1888Scribner's Mag. Aug. 191 Jack never tires of telling what his engine did when ‘she was going up Rattlesnake Grade’. 1890Boldrewood Col. Reformer (1891) 150 The..rush of the express train..adown the flying grades. 1895Daily News 10 Sept. 3/5 A passenger train went off the rails at the bottom of a downward grade. 1896R. Kipling Seven Seas 57 His whistle waked the snow-bound grade.
fig.1893Daily News 26 June 2/5 Trade is on the upward grade.
c. U.S. local. In mining districts: A portion of road.
1877Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 278 The surface works of the mine are situated about 300 feet above the ‘grade’, or stage-road. 1883Stevenson Silverado Sq. 70 Entered the Toll road, or, to be more local, entered on ‘the grade’.
d. Physical Geogr. The condition of a river in which, after initial down-cutting of its bed, further down-cutting is balanced by aggradation; a state of equilibrium between the erosion of material from a river-bed and the deposition of fresh sediment; also, the profile of a river or part of one throughout which this condition exists; at grade, in this condition.
In quots. 1876, 1894 the sense is closer to ‘slope’ (grade n. 10).
[1876G. K. Gilbert in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. CXII. 100 In this way a stream, which has a supply of debris equal to its capacity, tends to build up the gentler slopes of its bed and cut away the steeper. It tends to establish a single, uniform grade. 1894W. M. Davis in Jrnl. Geol. II. 78 In certain cases, it seems to be possible for a stream to cut down its profile to a gentler grade in its early adolescence than is suitable to later adolescence and maturity.] 1902― in Ibid. X. 89 The use of ‘grade’, in the sense here advocated, was almost reached by Gilbert. Ibid. 92 The development of grade depends on the spontaneous adjustment of the capacity of a river to do work, and the quantity of work to be done by the river. 1934C. R. Longwell et al. Outl. Physical Geol. iii. 42 In places where there is an approximate balance between erosion and deposition, the stream is said to be graded or at grade. 1936Geogr. Jrnl. LXXXVII. 25 At least twice the river cut down to grade and had begun to widen its channel when rejuvenation forced it to trench further. 1942O. D. von Engeln Geomorphol. viii. 134 Maintenance of grade consists of a continuous, infinite series of adjustments between volume, slope, and sediment supply. 1963D. W. & E. E. Humphries tr. Termier's Erosion & Sedimentation v. 106 The profile is actually a composite curve, showing breaks at each important confluence and irregularities caused by the nature of the rocks which it crosses. It is a uniform slope varying regularly, a ‘grade’. 1970O. T. Jones in G. H. Dury Rivers & River Terraces iii. 75 Between Carmarthen and Fanog the Towy is graded to present sea-level, and the tributaries which enter it are at grade with the existing river.
e. to make the grade: to reach the proper standard, to be successful. orig. U.S.
1912J. Sandilands West. Canadian Dict. 20 Make the grade, make the running. 1921S. Ford Inez & Trilby May ix. 168 It's Gwendolyn that's got to do the hustling. Three days! I doubt if she can make the grade. 1922Collier's 7 Oct. 5/1, I don't think he can make the grade. 1930Publishers' Weekly 5 July 29/1 Can the seasonal bookshop make the grade, and under what conditions? 1932A. Powell Venusberg xxxiii. 235 How will it feel when the Recording Angel calls your bluff for the last time? How many of us will make the grade? 1958Listener 9 Oct. 568/3 A would-be thief who cannot make the grade. 1958Times 24 Oct. 14/7 Word spread quickly round the village: my cottage had made the grade.
11. Of a surface: Degree of altitude; level. rare. at grade (U.S.): on the same level.
1849Acts & Resolves Prov. Mass. Bay 126 Number of public ways crossed at grade, Number of railroads crossed at grade. 1851C. L. Smith tr. Tasso i. lxxv, Swollen beyond his wonted grade, That river..O'ertops his banks. 1869Congress. Globe 24 Mar. 252/3 Does not the junction road..cross the streets..at grade?.. No, sir; it crosses them above grade in nearly every instance. 1880M. Fitzgibbon Trip to Manitoba xiv. 164 The immense cost of filling up and levelling to bring the line to the proper grade. 1890Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 26 Aug. 4/2 Petition..for leave to cross the Grand Trunk tracks at North Stratford at grade.
12. Comb., grade-crossing N. Amer., a place where a road and a railway, or two railways cross each other at the same level, a level crossing; grade line (see quot.); grade school = graded school (see graded ppl. a.1); grade teacher N. Amer., a teacher in a grade school.
1890Boston Jrnl. 26 Aug. 4/2 (caption) Want a *Grade Crossing. 1894Stead If Christ came to Chicago 2 The spot of green light which arrests traffic across the grade crossing of the railway. 1906Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 27 Jan. 2/4 (heading) Fatal Grade Crossing Accident.
1840Tanner Canals & Rail Roads U.S. 249 *Grade line, or profile, is a prescribed line which governs the construction of a rail-road.
1869Daily News 20 Dec., At a meeting of the Social Science Association..a paper will be read by Mr. Edwin Pears, ‘On *Grade Schools, and on Scholarships between Primary and Grade Schools, and to the Universities’. 1967Boston Globe 5 Apr. 51/6 The Celtics have been the greatest since Muhammad Ali was in grade school. 1970New Yorker 14 Nov. 209/1 College, high-school, and grade-school teaching is unsatisfactory almost everywhere.
1906Springfield (Mass.) Weekly Republican 12 Apr. 6 The *grade teachers attempting little..except setting the class to sing music already familiar. 1909G. S. Porter Girl of Limberlost ix. 165 She gathered..all sorts of natural history specimens and sold them to the grade teachers.
▸ grade point average n. N. Amer. Educ. the average of all grades awarded (usually to an individual student) expressed numerically as an indication of academic achievement (in the United States now esp. on a four-point scale); abbreviated GPA.
1921Oakland (Calif.) Tribune (Electronic text) 30 Apr. All organizations for social, housing or boarding purposes must keep within twenty-hundredths of the *grade point average of the university. 1961Jrnl. Higher Educ. 32 337 Students at Brigham Young University..were able to renew their scholarships..after making a college grade-point average of 2.5. 1995Spectator (Hamilton, Ont.) (Nexis) 13 Mar. c6 Peterson had a 94 per cent grade point average during his first semester at Mohawk.
▪ II. † grade, v.1 Obs. rare—1.
[aphetic form of degrade.]
trans. To degrade.
a1400–50Alexander 2430 (Dublin MS.) Thar as he giltyd me ayayns, I hym gradit haue.
▪ III. grade, v.2|greɪd|
[f. grade n.]
†1. trans. To admit to a (specified) degree at a University. Obs.—1
1563Foxe A. & M. 403/1 Returning the same yere, he was graded doctor, at the expences of elector Frederick, according to the solempne manner of scholes.
†2. To lay out (the plan of a country) by degrees of latitude and longitude. Obs. rare—1.
1600Haies in Hakluyt Voy. III. 152 Also some obserued the eleuation of the pole, and drewe plats of the countrey exactly graded.
3. a. To arrange or place in grades or classes; to class (persons, schools, etc.) according to dignity, merit, or advancement; to sort (produce) according to quality; to determine the grades or degrees of.
1659R. Eedes Wisdom's Justif. 34 They that turn many to righteousness shall be graded in glory accordingly. 1880Fitch Lect. Teaching (1881) 48 When Schools are rightly graded each will have its own complete and characteristic course. 1882Harper's Mag. Dec. 123/2 Seats were graded according to rank in the churches. 1884–5Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) IV. 179 Grading our groups on a somewhat different principle..we include the two species of boat-bill..in the sub-family Cochleariinæ. 1885Pall Mall G. 13 June 6/1 It is a comparatively simple matter to grade American wheat. 1889Marg. Lee Faithf. & Unf. xi. 125 He despises Maud, and grades me with her. 1890Westm. Rev. Apr. 351 Society grades the wrong of killing, and gives names to the degrees.
b. To blend with other things, so as to affect the grade or quality of.
1889Times 23 Oct. 5/4 Cider..is again graded with other apple juices, so as to produce either sweet or dry cider.
c. To colour with shades or tints which pass insensibly one into another.
1871[see grading vbl. n. a]. 1882Athenæum 7 Jan. 23/1 The sky is tenderly graded from the vapours of the horizon to the clear blue of the zenith. 1893Baildon Rescue, etc. 81 Pencilled, painted, grained and graded.
d. intr. Of produce: To take a specified grade.
1891N.Y. Tribune 30 Oct. 7/3 (Funk) They have had no frost and the wheat is grading nearly all No. 1 hard.
4. trans. To reduce (the line of a road, railway, or canal) to levels or practicable gradients.
1835[see grading vbl. n. c]. 1840Tanner Canals & Rail Roads U.S. 155 The line is graded for two tracks, only one of which..has been laid down. 1870Emerson Soc. & Solit., Civiliz. Wks. (Bohn) III. 8 When the Indian trail gets widened, graded, and bridged to a good road, there is a benefactor. 1881Hughes Rugby, Tennessee 49 His duties..in grading and superintending the walks, interfered with the garden. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. ii. li. 287 Cities were..compelled to grade, pave, and sewer streets without inhabitants.
absol.1858Times 25 Aug. 6/3 We are sending out men..to survey, to level, to grade.
fig.1870Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. I. (1873) 263 Hugh Peter grades the sharp descent from the apostolic to the practical with an et cetera.
5. Stock-breeding. To cross with some better breed. to grade up: to improve the breed of (stock) by grading.
1873Rep. Vermont Board Agric. II. 92 He..thought he should improve the color of his butter by grading his herd with Jersey blood. 1887F. Francis Jr. Saddle & Mocassin ix. 161 It encourages you to go to the expense of turning in good bulls and grading up your stock.
6. Philol. In pass.: To be altered by gradation or ablaut.
1887Skeat Princ. Eng. Etymol. x. §155. 170 The Teut. E may be ‘graded’ to A on the one hand, and O on the other.
7. In occasional uses:
a. To wear away the surface of so as to produce a regular slope.
b. To cut (steps) at regular intervals.
1841Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) I. x. 69 By the action of water, the country seems to have been graded away. 1896Howells Impressions & Exp. 230, I..mount some steps graded in the rock at one place.
8. intr. To pass imperceptibly from one grade into another. Also with down, off, over, toward, up. Also, to grade up: to take rank with a higher grade or class (cf. 5); to grade up with: to compare with, to be like.
1892R. D. Salisbury in Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. New Jersey 1891 74 While the drumlin type is fairly distinct, drumlins grade into hills which are not drumlins. 1903Harper's Mag. July 186 The type graded downward into the lower invertebrates. 1907‘O. Henry’ Heart of West i. 5 When a man marries a queen he ought to grade up with her. 1921Brit. Mus. Return 157 Rock-crystal grading into quartzite, from..Minas Geraes, Brazil. 1922C. E. Mulford Black Buttes xiv. 227 Strikes me funny, though, the way they [sc. the new cattle] grade up. 1925Odell in E. F. Norton Fight for Everest, 1924 292 This granite..frequently graded off into pegmatite. 1927Haldane & Huxley Anim. Biol. ix. 198 The activity grades down from one pole of the egg to the other. 1943J. S. Huxley Evol. Ethics iv. 26 Ethics grades over into the prescriptions of totem and tabu. 1952P. Abrahams Path of Thunder ii. ii. 91 If the whites and the black people were equal, if there were no colour bar, if a black man could go to Parliament and had all the same rights as a white man, and the Coloured people wanted to grade toward the whites, then it would be all right. 1971Nature 1 Jan. 16/1 Basalt, up to 2 km thick, grades downwards into gabbro and metamorphic rocks.
9. To read and mark (a student's paper) with a grade.
1931H. F. Pringle Theodore Roosevelt I. iii. 37 Lodge..graded their papers with undue severity. 1948Christian Sci. Monitor 22 Apr. 4/3 The robot prof. is a machine that automatically grades homework and examination papers, at the rate of 10 a minute. |