scale
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
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[edit] English
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[edit] Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈskeɪl/
- Audio (US)help, file
- Rhymes: -eɪl
[edit] Etymology 1
From Latin scāla, usually in plural scālae (“‘a flight of steps, stairs, staircase, ladder’”), for *scadla < scandere (“‘to climb’”); see scan, ascend, descend, etc.
[edit] Noun
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Singular |
Plural |
scale (plural scales)
- An ordered numerical sequence used for measurement.
- Please rate your experience on a scale from 1 to 10.
- Size; scope.
- The Holocaust was insanity on an enormous scale.
- There are some who question the scale of our ambitions.
- The ratio of depicted distance to actual distance.
- This map uses a scale of 1:10.
- A means of assigning a magnitude.
- The magnitude of an earthquake is measured on the open-ended Richter scale.
- (music) A series of notes spanning an octave, tritave, or pseudo-octave, used to make melodies.
[edit] Derived terms
- major scale
- minor scale
- modal scale
- scale invariance
- scale model
- Richter scale
- Celsius scale
- Kelvin scale
- Fahrenheit scale
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Hyponyms
- (music): tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, leading note, octave interval
[edit] Translations
[edit] See also
[edit] Verb
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Infinitive |
Third person singular |
Simple past |
Past participle |
Present participle |
to scale (third-person singular simple present scales, present participle scaling, simple past and past participle scaled)
- (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.
- We should scale that up by a factor of 10.
- (transitive) To climb.
- Hilary and Norgay were the first known to have scaled Everest.
- (intransitive) (computing) To tolerate significant increases in throughput or other potentially limiting factors.
- That architecture won't scale to real-world environments.
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Translations
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[edit] Etymology 2
< Middle English scale < Old English scealu (“‘a scale, husk’”), Old High German scala; cf. Old French escale (“‘husk, chip’”), French écale, Italian scaglia.
[edit] Noun
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Singular |
Plural |
scale (plural scales)
- 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.
- A pine nut of a pinecone.
- The flaky material sloughed off heated metal.
- Scale mail (as opposed to chain mail).
- Limescale
[edit] Translations
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[edit] Verb
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Infinitive |
Third person singular |
Simple past |
Past participle |
Present participle |
to scale (third-person singular simple present scales, present participle scaling, simple past and past participle scaled)
- (transitive) To remove the scales of.
- Please scale that fish for dinner.
- (intransitive) To become scaly; to produce or develop scales.
- The dry weather is making my skin scale.
[edit] Translations
[edit] Etymology 3
From Old Norse skál (“‘bowl’”). Confer Danish skål (“‘bowl, cup’”), Dutch schaal; German Schale; Old High German scāla; Gothic skalja, Old English scealu ("cup", "shell"). Cognate with scale, as in Etymology 2.
[edit] Noun
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Singular |
Plural |
scale (plural scales)
- A device to measure mass or weight.
- After the long, lazy winter I was afraid to get on the scale.
- Either of the pans, trays, or dishes of a balance.
[edit] Usage notes
The noun is often used in the plural to denote a single device.
[edit] Translations
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[edit] External links
- scale in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- scale in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
[edit] Anagrams
[edit] Italian
[edit] Noun
scale f.
- Plural form of scala.
