the act of arranging in a graduated series

changing the ground level to a smooth horizontal or gently sloping surface

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.

Thus, a form of selecting and grading has been established on a basis that provides a very large amount of jute each year of a quality which is known as " a first mark." – The Jute Industry: From Seed to Finished Cloth by T. Woodhouse and P. Kilgour

Since then, Van and I have been at the grading work, as you see. – Ralph of the Roundhouse by Allen Chapman

I still clutch convulsively to the idea that thought is the only reality and all expression of it merely a grading down of what was most high. – An Anarchist Woman by Hutchins Hapgood