Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The level layer of rock or earth upon which the foundation of a road or railway is laid.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A grade of the second rank in zoölogical classification; a prime division of a grade: used like subclass, suborder, etc. See grade, 3.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The layer of native soil on which the foundation of a road is laid

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

sub- +‎ grade

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Examples

  • Crews have discovered that ground beneath the road surface - an area known as the subgrade

    unknown title 2009

  • Also, the sidewalk, per city standards should be 3.5 inches of concrete on compacted subgrade.

    Mayor McGinn Talks Budget Cuts, Parks « PubliCola 2010

  • The old Soviet Union turned out industrial product that was mostly subgrade or pure junk.

    Fact And Comment Steve Forbes 2010

  • The old Soviet Union turned out industrial product that was mostly subgrade or pure junk.

    Copernican Revolution Coming to Economics Steve Forbes 2010

  • Other projects include a helical anchor, which can be screwed into the ground and used to support a 10-kilowatt wind turbine, and a Department of Transportation project to develop better roadways by improving the subgrade soil on which roadways are often built.

    Meet Amy Cerato: Geotechnical Engineer « AAUW Dialog 2010

  • The old Soviet Union turned out industrial product that was mostly subgrade or pure junk.

    Fact And Comment Steve Forbes 2010

  • But, and this leads back to original analogy, if he cannot definitively tell me whether or not that subgrade can support the structure using all of the industry standard tools at his disposal that have been empirically tested and verified countless times on millions of jobs, then I'm going to be real heistant to recommend the to the client that the project move forward in its current form.

    Religion and global warming | RELIGION Blog | dallasnews.com 2009

  • There he subjects the samples to a variety of tests in order to determine the mechanical properties of the subgrade.

    Religion and global warming | RELIGION Blog | dallasnews.com 2009

  • In the early 1990s, 10 to 16% of the subgrade in the permafrost areas of the Baikal – Amur railroad line was deformed because of permafrost thawing; this increased to 46% in 1998.

    Infrastructure and climate in the Arctic 2009

  • Everything, from preparing the subgrade and the foundations, to installing the roofing and finishing the walls, is covered.

    Book & DVD Review: Building with Awareness 2008

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