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scale

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:scalęandscałe

English

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WOTD – 14 January 2016
Ascale (sense 2) for rating pain
An image of a leaf with ascale (sense 5) in the bottom-left corner, which serves to convey thescale (sense 4) of the image
A musicalscale (sense 6)

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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FromMiddle Englishscale, fromLatinscāla, usually in pluralscālae(“a flight of steps, stairs, staircase, ladder”), for*skand-slā, fromscandō(“I climb”); seescan,ascend,descend, etc.Doublet ofscala.

Noun

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scale (pluralscales)

  2. (obsolete) Aladder; a series ofsteps; a means ofascending.
  4. Anordered, usuallynumericalsequence used formeasurement;means of assigning amagnitude.
    Please rate your experience on ascale from 1 to 10.
    The magnitude of an earthquake is measured on the open-endedRichterscale.
  6. Size;scope.
    There are some who question thescale of our ambitions.
    • 2012 January, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, inAmerican Scientist‎[1], volume100, number 1, archived fromthe original on14 November 2012, page23:
      We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate onscales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.
  8. Theratio of depicteddistance to actual distance.
    This map uses ascale of 1:10.
  10. Aline orbar associated with a drawing, used to indicate measurement when the image has beenmagnified orreduced.
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster,The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.:Field Museum of Natural History,→ISBN, page ix:
      Even though precision can be carried to an extreme, thescales which now are drawn in (and usually connected to an appropriate figure by an arrow) will allow derivation of meaningful measurements.
  12. (music) Aseries ofnotes spanning anoctave,tritave, orpseudo-octave, used to make melodies.
  14. Amathematicalbase for a numeral system;radix.
    the decimalscale, the binaryscale
  16. Gradation; succession of ascending and descending steps and degrees; progressive series; scheme of comparative rank or order.
    • 1643,J[ohn] M[ilton],The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons] […],→OCLC:
      There is a certainscale of duties[…] which for want of studying in right order, all the world is in confusion.
    • 2012 May 13, Phil McNulty, “Man City 3-2 QPR”, inBBC Sport‎[2]:
      City's players and supporters travelled from one end of the emotionalscale to the other in those vital seconds, providing a truly remarkable piece of football theatre and the most dramatic conclusion to a season in Premier League history.
  18. A standard amount of money to be paid for a service, for example union-negotiated amounts received by a performer or writer; similar towage scale orpay grade.
    Sally wasn't the star of the show, so she was glad to be paidscale.
Hyponyms
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music
physics
others
Coordinate terms
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geography: Terms related toscale
music: Terms related toscale
Derived terms
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Descendants
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Translations
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ladder—seeladder
sequence for measurement
size or scope
ratio of distances
line or bar used to indicate measurement
series of notes
mathematics: base for a numeral system—seeradix
gradation; progressive series; scheme of comparative rank or order
See also
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References
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Verb

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scale (third-person singular simple presentscales,present participlescaling,simple past and past participlescaled)

  2. (transitive) To change thesize of something whilst maintainingproportion; especially to change a process in order to produce much larger amounts of the final product.
    We shouldscale that up by a factor of 10.
  3. (transitive) Toclimb to the top of.
    Hilary and Norgay were the first known to havescaled Everest.
    • 1918 September–November,Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, inThe Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp.,→OCLC; republished as chapter IX, inHugo Gernsback, editor,Amazing Stories,(please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.:Experimenter Publishing,1927,→OCLC:
      At last I came to the great barrier-cliffs; and after three days of mad effort—of maniacal effort—Iscaled them. I built crude ladders; I wedged sticks in narrow fissures; I chopped toe-holds and finger-holds with my long knife; but at last Iscaled them. Near the summit I came upon a huge cavern.
    • 1932, Dorothy L Sayers, chapter 1, inHave his Carcase:
      A solitary rock is always attractive. All right-minded people feel an overwhelming desire toscale and sit upon it.
    • 1941,Theodore Roethke, “Feud”, inOpen House, New York, N.Y.:Alfred A[braham] Knopf,→OCLC; republished inThe Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, London:Faber and Faber […],1968,→OCLC,page 4:
      The dead leap at the throat, destroy
      The meaning of the day; dark forms
      Havescaled your walls, and spies betray
      Old secrets to amorphous swarms.
  4. (intransitive, computing) To tolerate significant increases inthroughput or other potentially limiting factors.
    That architecture won'tscale to real-world environments.
  5. (transitive) Toweigh,measure orgrade according to a scale or system.
  6. (manufacturing, transitive) To take measurements from (anengineering drawing), treating them as (oras if) reliabledimensional instructions.This practice often works but can producelatently incorrect results and is thus usuallydeprecated.
    Every single print that goes out our door has a warning in its title block telling the world, "Do notscale this drawing."
Hyponyms
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Related terms
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Translations
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to change size of
to climb
to tolerate increases in throughput
to weigh

Etymology 2

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Teleostscales (sense 1)

FromMiddle Englishscale, fromOld Frenchescale, fromFrankish and/orOld High Germanskala, fromProto-Germanic*skalō. Cognate withOld Englishsċealu(“shell, husk”), whence the modern doubletshale. Further cognate withDutchschaal,GermanSchale,Frenchécale.

Noun

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scale (countable anduncountable,pluralscales)

  2. Part of anoverlapping arrangement of manysmall,flat andhard pieces ofkeratin covering theskin of an animal, particularly afish orreptile.
    Hyponyms:fish scale,fish-scale,fishscale
    • 1667,John Milton, “Book VII”, inParadise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […];[a]nd by Robert Boulter […];[a]nd Matthias Walker, […],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […],1873,→OCLC:
      Fish that, with their fins and shiningscales, / Glide under the green wave.
  3. A small piece ofpigmentedchitin, many of whichcoat thewings of abutterfly ormoth to give them theircolor.
  4. Aflake of skin of an animal afflicted withdermatitis.
  5. Part of anoverlapping arrangement of manysmall,flat andhardprotectivelayers forming apinecone thatflare whenmature to releasepine nut seeds.
  6. (uncountable) Theflaky materialsloughed off heatedmetal.
    Hyponym:mill scale
  7. Scale mail (as opposed tochain mail).
  8. (uncountable)Limescale.
  9. Ascale insect.
  10. The thin metallic side plate of the handle of apocketknife.
  11. (uncountable, US) An infestation ofscale insects on a plant; commonly thought of as, or mistaken for, adisease.
Derived terms
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Descendants
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Translations
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keratin pieces covering the skin of certain animals
coloured chitin
flake of skin
pine nut
flaky material sloughed off heated metal
scale mail
limescale—seelimescale

Verb

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scale (third-person singular simple presentscales,present participlescaling,simple past and past participlescaled)

  1. (transitive) Toremove the scales of.
    Synonym:descale
    Pleasescale that fish for dinner.
  2. (intransitive) To becomescaly; to produce or develop scales.
    The dry weather is making my skinscale.
  3. (transitive) To strip or clear of scale; todescale.
    toscale the inside of a boiler
  4. (transitive) To take off in thin layers or scales, as tartar from the teeth; to pare off, as a surface.
    • 1684-1690,Thomas Burnet,Sacred Theory of the Earth
      if all the mountains and hills werescaled, and the earth made even
  5. (intransitive) To separate and come off in thin layers or laminae.
    Some sandstonescales by exposure.
    • 1627 (indicated as1626),Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, inSylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […];[p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […],→OCLC:
      Those that cast their shell are the lobster and crab; the old skins are found, but the old shells never; so it is likely that theyscale off.
  6. (UK, Scotland, dialect) Toscatter; tospread.
  7. (transitive) To clean, as the inside of a cannon, by the explosion of a small quantity of powder.
Derived terms
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Translations
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remove the scales of
become scaly
to strip or clear of scale
to take off in thin layers or scales
to separate and come off in thin layers

Etymology 3

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A digital kitchenscale (sense 1)
A balancescale (sense 1), which has twoscales (sense 2), along with some weights

Inherited fromNorthern Middle Englishscale (non-Northernscole), fromOld Norseskál(“bowl”) fromProto-Germanic*skēlō. CompareDanishskål(“bowl, cup”),Dutchschaal, GermanSchale, Old High Germanscāla, Old Englishscealu(“cup”).

Noun

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scale (pluralscales)

  2. Adevice tomeasuremass orweight.
    Synonym:scales
    After the long, lazy winter I was afraid to get on thescale.
  4. Either of thepans,trays, ordishes of abalance orscales.
Usage notes
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  • The noun is often used in the plural to denote a single device (originally apair of scales had two pans).
Derived terms
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Descendants
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Translations
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device—seescales
dish of a balance
Further reading
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Anagrams

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Italian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈska.le/
  • Rhymes:-ale
  • Hyphenation:scà‧le

Noun

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scale f pl

  1. plural ofscala

Anagrams

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Middle English

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Etymology 1

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FromOld Frenchescale.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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scale (pluralscales)

  1. flake
Descendants
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References
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Etymology 2

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    FromLatinscāla.

    Alternative forms

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    Noun

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    scale (pluralscales)

    1. ladder
    Descendants
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    References
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    Etymology 3

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    Borrowed fromOld Norseskáli(“small building”), possibly fromProto-Germanic*skawalô, fromProto-Indo-European*(s)kewH-.

    Alternative forms

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    Noun

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    scale (pluralscales)

    1. hut,hovel
    Descendants
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    References
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    Etymology 4

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    Noun

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    scale

    1. (Early Middle English or Northern)alternative form ofscole(“bowl”)
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