1. A flattened rigid plate forming part of the body covering of many animals
2. A series of notes differing in pitch according to a specific scheme (usually within an octave); SYN. musical scale.
3. A specialized leaf or bract that protects a bud or catkin; SYN. scale leaf.
4. The ratio between the size of something and a representation of it
5. An indicator having a graduated sequence of marks.
6. An instrument for weighing; shows amount of mass; SYN. weighing machine.
7. An ordered reference standard:; SYN. scale of measurement, graduated table, ordered series.
8. Relative magnitude
9. A thin flake of dead epidermis shed from the surface of the skin; SYN. scurf.

In music, a sequence of pitches that establishes a key, and in some respects the character of a composition. A scale is defined by its starting note and may be major or minor depending on the order of intervals. A chromatic scale is the full range of 12 notes: it has no key because there is no fixed starting point.
A whole-tone scale is a six-note scale and is also indeterminate in key: only two are possible. A diatonic scale has seven notes, a pentatonic scale has five.

Scale insect; infestation with or disease caused by scale insects

The numerical relationship, expressed as a ratio, between the actual size of an object and the size of an image that represents it on a map, plan, or diagram.

In chemistry, calcium carbonate deposits that form on the inside of a kettle or boiler as a result of boiling hard water.

The number of digits in the fractional part of a numeric data item.
A horizontal or vertical line on a graph that shows minimum, maximum, and interval values for the data plotted.

ETYM Cf. Italian scalare, from Latin scalae, scala. Related to Scale a ladder.
1. To reach the highest point of; SYN. surmount.
2. To climb up by means of a ladder.
3. To take by attacking with scaling ladders.
4. To measure by or as if by a scale.
5. To measure with or as if with scales.
6. To pattern, make, regulate, set, measure, or estimate according to some rate or standard.
7. To size or measure according to a scale.
8. To remove the scales from; SYN. descale.

1. To enlarge or reduce a graphic display, such as a drawing or a proportional character font, by adjusting its size proportionally.
2. To alter the way in which values are represented so as to bring them into a different range—for example, to change linear feet to quarter inches on a blueprint drawing of a house.
3. In programming, to determine the number of digits occupied by fixed-point or floating-point numbers. See also fixed-point notation, floating-point number.