Background for scale

scale

/skeɪl/

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noun

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

Examples :

"The fire escape was a metal scale, providing a way to safely descend from the third floor. "

structure way essential

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noun

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

Examples :

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

math statistics number science essential

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noun

Examples :

"The Holocaust was insanity on an enormous scale."

amount essential

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noun

The ratio of depicted distance to actual distance.

Examples :

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

math geography essential

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noun

A line or bar associated with a drawing, used to indicate measurement when the image has been magnified or reduced.

Examples :

"The architectural drawing of the house included a scale to show how big the rooms actually are. "

technical art math essential

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noun

A series of notes spanning an octave, tritave, or pseudo-octave, used to make melodies.

Examples :

"The music teacher showed the students a scale of C major, explaining how the notes created a melody. "

music essential

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noun

A mathematical base for a numeral system; radix.

Examples :

"the decimal scale; the binary scale"

math number system essential

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noun

Gradation; succession of ascending and descending steps and degrees; progressive series; scheme of comparative rank or order.

Examples :

"The teacher outlined a precise scale of difficulty for the math assignments, starting with basic equations and progressing to complex calculus problems. "

degree range system quality number math essential

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noun

A standard amount of money to be received by a performer or writer, negotiated by a union.

Examples :

"The musician's union negotiated a higher scale for their upcoming concert performances. "

entertainment job business work essential

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verb

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.

Examples :

"We should scale that up by a factor of 10."

business technology industry economy process essential

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verb

To climb to the top of.

Examples :

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

action sport achievement essential

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verb

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

Examples :

"The company is scaling its online order processing to handle the increased demand during the holiday season. "

technology computing business system essential

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verb

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

Examples :

"The teacher will scale the students' project reports using a rubric. "

system value business economy science statistics essential

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noun

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.

Examples :

"The fish's scales shimmered in the sunlight. "

animal body part biology fish anatomy essential

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noun

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

Examples :

"The butterfly's wings were covered in tiny scales, giving them their vibrant colors. "

animal insect biology color appearance essential

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noun

A flake of skin of an animal afflicted with dermatitis.

Examples :

"The dog had a small scale on its paw, a sign of the skin irritation. "

medicine animal disease body essential

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noun

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.

Examples :

"The pine cone's scale opened, releasing the tiny seeds. "

plant part seed nature biology essential

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noun

The flaky material sloughed off heated metal.

Examples :

"The metal in the oven was producing a lot of scale, making it difficult to clean. "

material technical essential

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noun

Scale mail (as opposed to chain mail).

Examples :

"The medieval knight wore scale armor, not chain mail. "

military weapon wear essential

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noun

Examples :

"The kettle was covered in a thick layer of limescale, making it difficult to clean. "

substance material essential

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noun

A scale insect.

Examples :

"The gardener noticed a small scale insect on the rose bush. "

insect animal biology essential

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noun

The thin metallic side plate of the handle of a pocketknife.

Examples :

"The pocketknife's scale was smooth and cool to the touch. "

material part utensil essential

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verb

To remove the scales of.

Examples :

"Please scale that fish for dinner."

food fish essential

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verb

To become scaly; to produce or develop scales.

Examples :

"The dry weather is making my skin scale."

organism biology animal essential

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verb

To strip or clear of scale; to descale.

Examples :

"to scale the inside of a boiler"

biology animal food fish essential

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verb

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

Examples :

"The chef scaled the hard-boiled eggs, carefully peeling off the shells in thin layers. "

physiology medicine body essential

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verb

To separate and come off in thin layers or laminae.

Examples :

"Some sandstone scales by exposure."

biology material essential

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verb

To scatter; to spread.

Examples :

"The children scaled their drawings of the park across the classroom walls. "

action process essential

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verb

To clean, as the inside of a cannon, by the explosion of a small quantity of powder.

Examples :

"The artillery crew scaled the cannon to prepare it for the next firing. "

military weapon technical essential

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noun

A device to measure mass or weight.

Examples :

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

device utensil essential

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noun

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

Examples :

"The baker carefully placed the flour on one scale of the kitchen balance. "

utensil machine essential