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Definition scale

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin sc?la, usually in plural sc?lae (“a flight of steps, stairs, staircase, ladder”), for *scadla, from scand? (“I climb”); see scan, ascend, descend, etc.

Noun

scale (plural scales)

1. (obsolete) A ladder; a series of steps; a means of ascending.
2. An ordered, usually numerical sequence used for measurement, means of assigning a magnitude.
3. Size; scope.
4. The ratio of depicted distance to actual distance.
5. A line or bar associated with a drawing, used to indicate measurement when the image has been magnified or reduced.
6. (music) A series of notes spanning an octave, tritave, or pseudo-octave, used to make melodies.
7. A mathematical base for a numeral system; radix.
8. Gradation; succession of ascending and descending steps and degrees; progressive series; scheme of comparative rank or order.
9. A standard amount of money to be received by a performer or writer, negotiated by a union.

Verb

scale (third-person singular simple present scales, present participle scaling, simple past and past participle scaled)

1. (transitive) To change the size of something whilst maintaining proportion; especially to change a process in order to produce much larger amounts of the final product.
2. (transitive) To climb to the top of.
3. (intransitive, computing) To tolerate significant increases in throughput or other potentially limiting factors.
4. (transitive) To weigh, measure or grade according to a scale or system.

Etymology 2

From Middle English scale, borrowed from Old French escale, from Frankish and/or Old High German skala, from Proto-Germanic *skal?. Cognate with Old English scealu (“shell, husk”), whence the modern doublet shale. Further cognate with Dutch schaal, German Schale, French écale. Also related with English shell, French écaille, Italian scaglia.

Noun

scale (plural scales)

1. Part of an overlapping arrangement of many small, flat and hard pieces of keratin covering the skin of an animal, particularly a fish or reptile.
2. A small piece of pigmented chitin, many of which coat the wings of a butterfly or moth to give them their color.
3. A flake of skin of an animal afflicted with dermatitis.
4. Part of an overlapping arrangement of many small, flat and hard protective layers forming a pinecone that flare when mature to release pine nut seeds.
5. The flaky material sloughed off heated metal.
6. Scale mail (as opposed to chain mail).
7. Limescale.
8. A scale insect.
9. The thin metallic side plate of the handle of a pocketknife.

Verb

scale (third-person singular simple present scales, present participle scaling, simple past and past participle scaled)

1. (transitive) To remove the scales of.
2. (intransitive) To become scaly; to produce or develop scales.
3. (transitive) To strip or clear of scale; to descale.
4. (transitive) To take off in thin layers or scales, as tartar from the teeth; to pare off, as a surface.
5. (intransitive) To separate and come off in thin layers or laminae.
6. (Britain, Scotland, dialectal) To scatter; to spread.
7. (transitive) To clean, as the inside of a cannon, by the explosion of a small quantity of powder.

Etymology 3

From Old Norse skál (“bowl”). Compare Danish skål (“bowl, cup”), Dutch schaal; German Schale; Old High German sc?la; Gothic ?????? (skalja, “tile, brick”), Old English scealu (“cup; shell”). Cognate with scale, as in Etymology 2.

Noun

scale (plural scales)

1. A device to measure mass or weight.
2. Either of the pans, trays, or dishes of a balance or scales.

Results 230 Words with the letters SCALE

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