3 could make the grade (8)
I believe the answer is:
gathered
'3' is the definition.
The answer and definition are different parts of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs sometimes mean the same thing.
'make the grade' is the wordplay.
'make' indicates anagramming the letters.
'the'+'grade'='thegrade'
'thegrade' anagrammed gives 'GATHERED'.
'could' is the link.
(Other definitions for gathered that I've seen before include "Collected in one place and concluded" , "Gleaned" , "assumed" , "Surmised" , "Collected or assembled together" .)