Dictionary

A ladder; a series of steps; a means of ascending.

An ordered, usually numerical sequence used for measurement, means of assigning a magnitude.

Example: Please rate your experience on a scale from 1 to 10.

Size; scope.

Example: The Holocaust was insanity on an enormous scale.

The ratio of depicted distance to actual distance.

Example: This map uses a scale of 1:10.

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.

Example: We should scale that up by a factor of 10.

To climb to the top of.

Example: Hilary and Norgay were the first known to have scaled Everest.

To tolerate significant increases in throughput or other potentially limiting factors.

Example: That architecture won't scale to real-world environments.

To weigh, measure or grade according to a scale or system.

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.

A small piece of pigmented chitin, many of which coat the wings of a butterfly or moth to give them their color.

A flake of skin of an animal afflicted with dermatitis.

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.

To remove the scales of.

Example: Please scale that fish for dinner.

To become scaly; to produce or develop scales.

Example: The dry weather is making my skin scale.

To strip or clear of scale; to descale.

Example: to scale the inside of a boiler

To take off in thin layers or scales, as tartar from the teeth; to pare off, as a surface.

A device to measure mass or weight.

Example: After the long, lazy winter I was afraid to get on the scale.

Either of the pans, trays, or dishes of a balance or scales.