scale

Definitions · Examples · Pronunciations · Etymologies · Related · Statistics · Comments (1) ·

“

On the opposite end of the scale is the LifeSize Team 200 designed for workgroup conferencing on a small scale, but still offers dual-monitor HD video at 720p30, digital I / O while using only 1Mbps.

—The most recent articles from V3.co.uk

View all »
Definitions (217)

American Heritage Dictionary (40)

noun One of the many small platelike dermal or epidermal structures that characteristically form the external covering of fishes, reptiles, and certain mammals.
noun A similar part, such as one of the minute structures overlapping to form the covering on the wings of butterflies and moths.
noun Pathology A dry thin flake of epidermis shed from the skin.

37 more from this dictionary »

Century Dictionary (151)

A husk, shell, pod, or other thin covering of a seed or fruit, as of the bean.
Ln botany, a small rudimentary or thin scarious body, usually a metamorphosed leaf, scale-like in form and often in arrangement, constituting the covering of the leaf-buds of deciduous trees in cold climates, the involucre of the Compositæ, the bracts of the catkin, the imbricated and thickened leaves which constitute the bulb, and the like. Also applied in the Coniferæ to the leaves or bracts of the cone, and to the chaff on the stems of ferns. See also cuts under imbricate and rosin-plant.
In zoology, an epidermal or exoskeletal structure that is thin, flat, hard or dry, and of some definite extent; a piece of cuticle that is squamous, scaly, or horny, and does not constitute a hair, a feather, or a horn, hoof, nail, or claw; a squama; a scute; a scutellum. All these structures, however, belong to one class, and there is no absolute distinction. Scales are often of large size and great comparative thickness or solidity, and may be reinforced by bone, in which case they are commonly called shields or plates. Specifically— In ichthyology, one of the particular modifications of epidermis which collectively form the usual covering, more or less complete, of fishes; a fish-scale. They are of many forms and sizes, but have been sometimes considered under the four heads of cycloid, ctenoid, ganoid, and placoid, and fishes have been classified accordingly, as by Agassiz. (See cycloid, etc.) They are developed on the inner side of the general epidermis, but vary greatly in form and other characteristics. In most living fishes they are expanded horny lamellæ, and imbricated, the posterior edges of one transverse row overlapping adjacent parts of the sncceeding row. Growth takes place from a central, subcentral, or posterior nucleus by increase at the periphery. Generally the anterior part, or base of insertion, is provided with striæ or grooves diverging backward. (1) In numerous fishes growth takes place in layers and at the posterior edges as much as at the anterior, and there are no teeth or denticles at the posterior margin: such are called cycloid scales. (2) When the posterior margin is beset with denticles, a ctenoid scale is the result. When vestiges of such teeth or denticles are retained on the surface between the nucleus and the posterior margin, the surface is to that extent muricated. In other forms the growth is almost entirely sideways and forward, and the nucleus is consequently near the posterior edge. (3) Still other fishes have a hard enameled surface to the scale, which is generally of a rhomboidal form, and such a scale is called ganoid; but few modern fishes are thus armed, though scales of this kind were developed by numerous extinct forms. (4) When the scales are very small, or represented by ossified papillæ of the cutis, they are called placoid; such are found in most of the sharks. Between these various types there are gradations, and there are also numerous modifications in other directions. The presence or absence of scales becomes also of slight systematic importance in some groups, and the same family may contain species with a scaleless body and others with scales of the ctenoid and cycloid types. The scales of various fishes, as the sheepshead, mullet, and drum, are used in the manufacture of ornamental work, as mock jewelry, flower-sprays, etc. Pearl-white or essence d'Orient, used in making artificial pearls, is prepared from the scales of Alburnus lucidus and other cyprinoid fishes. In herpetology, one of the cuticular structures which form the usual covering of reptiles proper, as distinguished from amphibians, as a snake or lizard. These scales are commonly small, and are distinguished from the special shields or plates which cover the head, and the large specialized gastrosteges or urosteges of the under parts, as of a serpent. They are usually arranged in definite rows or series, and are also called scutes or scutella. In the Chelonia or turtles one of the thin plates of tortoise-shell which cover the carapace is a scale. See tortoise-shell. In ornithology: (1) A reduced feather, lacking locked barbs, and with flattened stem: as, the scales of a penguin. (2) A feather with metallic luster or iridescence, as those on the throat of a humming-bird. (3) A nasal opercle; a naricorn: as, the nasal scale. (4) One of the large regular divisions of the tarsal envelop; a scutellum: the smaller or irregular pieces being usually called plates. In mammalogy, one of the cuticular plates which may replace hairs on much of the body: as, the scales of a pangolin.

148 more from this dictionary »

View all »
Examples (50)

You can actually enter some of the real buildings in D.C., though the scale is a bit off. — Epinions Recent Content for Home
At the lesser end of the scale is a sequence in which Mieko and Touma end up in a hotel room together after a night out; Mieko is simply drunk, tired and incapable of getting home under her own steam, but Touma views this as his big opportunity. — Comments for Azure Flame
I still think the scale is the cheapest and most feasible solution. — Make - All Discussions
I rarely play this instrument, the scale is a bit longer than my OM or my Petersen Cittern. — Mandolin Cafe News
At the other end of the scale is the car hot hatch fans have been waiting for - an all-new VXR. — Auto Express: News

More examples »

Stats

This word has been looked up 219 times.

Photos from

Add a related word »
Related

Used in the Same Context

structure · level · range · dimension · feature · size · measure · basis · instrument · model · movement

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (9)

American Heritage Dictionary (3)

Middle English, from Old French escale, of Germanic origin; see skel-¹ in Indo-European roots.
Middle English, from Latin scālae, ladder; see skand- in Indo-European roots.
Middle English, bowl, balance, from Old Norse skāl; see skel-¹ in Indo-European roots.

Century Dictionary (6)

Early modern English also skale; from Middle English scale, also assibilated shale, schale, from Anglo-Saxon scealu, sceale, a scale, husk, = Middle Dutch schaele, Dutch schaal, a scale, husk, = Middle Low German schale = Old High German scala (ă or ā), Middle High German schale, schal (ă or ā), German schale, a shell, husk, scale, = Danish skal, shell, peel, rind, skæl, the scale of a fish, = Swedish skal, a shell, peel, rind, = Gothic (Moesogothic) skalja, a tile; cf. Old French escale, French écale, écaille = Italian scaglia, a shell, scale (from Old High German); akin to Anglo-Saxon scāle, scăle, Middle High German scale, scole, English scale, etc., a bowl, dish of a balance, etc. (see scale), to Anglo-Saxon scyll, scell, English shell, etc. (see shell), to G. scholle, a flake (of ice), a clod, etc.; from Teutonic ✓ *skal, *skel, separate, split; cf. Old Bulgarian skolĭka, a mussel (-shell), Russian skala, bark, shell, Lithuanian skelti, split, etc. From the same root are ult. English scale, shale (a doublet of scale), shale, shell, scall, scalp, scallop = scollop, scull = skull, scull = skull, skill, etc., skoal (a doublet of scale), etc., and prob. the first element in scabbard. Cf. scale, v.
Formerly also skale (Scots skail); from Middle English scalen, schalen = Old High German skelen, Middle High German scheln, German schälen, shell, = Swedish skala = Danish skalle, shell, hull (cf. Dutch schillen, pare, peel); from the noun, but in the mere sense ‘separate’ prob. in part a secondary form (as if a variant of skill, v.) of the primitive verb, Teutonic ✓ skal, skel, separate: see scale, n.
Early modern English also scole; from Middle English scale, skale, also assibilated schale, also (with reg. change of long ā) scoale, scole, from Anglo-Saxon scāle (plural sceála) (scǎle ?), a bowl, a dish of a balance, = Old Saxon scāla (scǎla ?), a bowl (to drink from), = North Friesic skal, head (-pan) of a testaceous animal, Friesic skeel, a pot, = Middle Dutch schalle, Dutch schaal = Middle Low German schale, a bowl, dish of a balance, = Old High German scāla (scǎla ?), Middle High German schale, schal, German schale, a bowl, dish, cup, = Icelandic skāl, a bowl, dish of a balance, = Swedish skål = Danish skaal, a bowl, cup (whence English skoal, q. v.); akin to Anglo-Saxon scealu, sceale, a scale, shell, etc., English scale, and to Anglo-Saxon scyll, scell, etc., shell, English shell: see scale, shell, scull, skull, scull, skull, etc. The forms have been more or less confused with those of scale, and the distinction of quantity (ā and ǎ) is in the early forms more or less uncertain.
from scale, n.
Early modern English also skale; from Middle English scale, skale = Old French eschiel, sequele, French échelle, a ladder, = Spanish Portuguese escala, a ladder, staircase, scale, = Italian scala, a ladder, staircase, scale, from Latin scāla, usually in plural scālæ, a flight of steps, stairs, a staircase, a ladder, for *scadla, from scandere, climb: see scan, ascend, descend, etc. From the L. scāla are also ult. English scalade, escalade, eschelon, etc. In def. 7 the noun is from the verb.
Early modern English also skale; from Middle English scalen = Old French escheler, escheller = Spanish Portuguese escalar = Italian scalare, from Middle Latin scalare, climb by means of a ladder, scale, from Latin scāla, a ladder: see scale, n.

Pronunciations
Record your own »

/skeɪl/

by American Heritage

Charts

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a day.

scale

View all »
Definitions (217)

American Heritage Dictionary (40)

Century Dictionary (151)

GNU Webster's 1913 (8)

WordNet (18)

Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

Tags

Stats

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the Same Context

Word Family

Etymologies (9)

American Heritage Dictionary (3)

Century Dictionary (6)

Pronunciations
Record your own »

Charts

Recently looked up

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

scale

View all » Definitions (217)

View all » Examples (50)

Tags

Stats

stop updating On Twitter

Photos from

Add a related word » Related

synonyms:

synonyms:

Etymologies (9)

Pronunciations Record your own »

Charts

Recently looked up

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

View all »
Definitions (217)

View all »
Examples (50)

stop updating
On Twitter

Add a related word »
Related

Pronunciations
Record your own »