Part 578

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.

3. Adapted for walking, as the feet of certain birds.

Gra"di*ent, n. 1. The rate of regular or graded ascent or descent in a road; grade.

2. A part of a road which slopes upward or downward; a portion of a way not level; a grade.

3. The rate of increase or decrease of a variable magnitude, or the curve which represents it; as, a thermometric gradient.

Gradient post, a post or stake indicating by its height or by marks on it the grade of a railroad, highway, or embankment, etc., at that spot.

{ ||Gra"din (?), Gra*dine" (?),} n. [F. gradin, dim. of grade. See Grade.] (Arch.) Any member like a step, as the raised back of an altar or the like; a set raised over another. "The gradines of the amphitheeater." Layard.

Gra*dine" (?), n. [F. gradine.] A toothed chised by sculptors.

Grad"ing (?), n. The act or method of arranging in or by grade, or of bringing, as the surface of land or a road, to the desired level or grade.

||Gra*di"no (?), n.; pl. Gradinos (#). [It.] (Arch.) A step or raised ||shelf, as above a sideboard or altar. Cf. Superaltar, and Gradin.

Grad"u*al" (?); a. [Cf; F. graduel. See Grade, and cf. Gradual, n.] Proceeding by steps or degrees; advancing, step by step, as in ascent or descent or from one state to another; regularly progressive; slow; as, a gradual increase of knowledge; a gradual decline.

Creatures animate with gradual life Of growth, sense, reason, all summed up in man.

Milton.

Grad"u*al, n. [LL. graduale a gradual (in sense 1), fr. L. gradus step: cf. F. graduel. See Grade, and cf. Grail a gradual.] 1. (R. C. Ch.) (a) An antiphon or responsory after the epistle, in the Mass, which was sung on the steps, or while the deacon ascended the steps. (b) A service book containing the musical portions of the Mass.