scale 
primitive verb, Tout. / skill, sled, separate: see 
scale 1 , n.J I. trans. 1. To deprive of scales, as 
a fish. 
Scalyn fysche. Exquamo, squamo. 
Prompt, Pan., p. 442. 
Our American neighbors neither allow set-nets, or drift- 
nets, on their shores, as they say nets break up the schulls 
of herring, and destroy them by scaling that is, rubbing 
on 1 their scales, when they are in a large body. Perley. 
2. To peel; husk; shell: as, to scale almouds. 
3. To pare down or off; shave or reduce, as 
a surface. 
If all the mountains and hills were scaled and the earth 
made even, the waters would not overflow its smooth sur- 
face. T. Burnet, Theory of the Earth, i. 7. 
4. In metal., to get rid of the scale or film of 
pxid formed on the surface of (a metal), as of 
iron plates, in order to obtain a clean surface 
for tinning. 5. To clean (the inside of a can- 
_ non) by firing off a small quantity of powder. 
The two large guns on the after tower were first scaled 
with light blank charges. Set. Amer. Supp., p. 8695. 
6. To cause to separate ; disperse ; scatter : as, 
to scale a crowd. 
Ah, sirrah, now the hugy heaps of cares that lodged in my 
mind 
Are scaled from their nestling-place, and pleasures passage 
find, 
For that, as well as Clyomon, Clamydes broke his day. 
Peele, Sir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes. 
7. To spill: as, to scale salt; to scale water. 
8. To spread, as manure or some loose sub- 
stance. [In the last three senses obsolete or 
prov. Eng. or Scotch.] 
II. intrans. 1 . To separate and come off in 
thin layers or laminse ; become reduced by the 
separation or loss of surface scales or flakes. 
The creatures that cast their skin are the snake, the vi- 
per. . . . Those that cast their shell are the lobster, the 
crab. . . . The old skins are found, but the old shells 
never ; so as it is like they scale off and crumble away 
by degrees. Baton, Nat. Hist, 732. 
The pillar [Pompey's] is well preserved, except that it 
has xnileii away a very little to the south. 
Pococke, Description of the East, I. 8. 
2. To separate; break up; disperse; scatter. 
[Obsolete or prov. Eng. or Scotch.] 
They would no longer abide, but scaled, & departed 
awaie. Holinshed, Chron., III. 499. 
See how they scale, and turn their tail, 
And rin to flail and plow, man. 
The Battle of Sheri/- Muir, st. 5. 
scale 2 (skal), . [Early mod. E. also scale; < 
ME. scale, skale, also assibilated schale, also 
(with reg. change of long a) scoale, scale, < AS. 
scale (pi. scedla) (scale t), a bowl, a dish of a 
balance, = OS. scdla (scdlal), a bowl (to drink 
from), = North Fries, skal, head(-pan) of a 
testaceous animal, Fries, skeel, a pot, = MD. 
schalle, D. schaal = MLG. schale, a bowl, dish 
of a balance, = OHG. scdla (scdla ?), MHG. 
schale, schal, G. schale, a bowl, dish, cup, = 
Icel. skal, a bowl, dish of a balance, = Sw. skal 
= Dan. skaal, a bowl, cup (whence E. skoal, 
q. v.); akin to AS. scealu, sceale, a scale, shell, 
etc., E. scale 1 , and to AS. sci/ll, scell, etc., shell, 
E. shell: see scale*, shell, scull*, skull*, sculW, 
skulft, etc. The forms have been more or less 
confused with those of scale*, and the distinc- 
tion of quantity (a and a) is in the early forms 
more or less uncertain.] If. A bowl; a cup. 
A bassyn, a bolle, other a gcole. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 1145. 
2. The bowl or dish of a balance ; hence, the 
balance itself, or the whole instrument: as, to 
turn the scale: generally used in the plural 
when applied to the whole instrument. 
They buy and sell not with golde, but siluer, and that 
not corned, but euery one hath his scales with him to the 
Market to weigh his siluer. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 438. 
I am one of those indifferent Men that would have the 
Scales of Power in Europe kept even. 
Howett, Letters, it. 43. 
Long time in even scale 
The battle hung. Milton, P. L., vi. 245. 
3. pi. [cap.] The sign of the Balance, or Libra, 
in the zodiac Beam and scales, a balance. Even 
scales, scales in which the beam is suspended at the mid- 
point of its length, so that the poise and the object bal- 
anced must be of the same weight. Pig-metal scales 
See pig-metal. Registering scale, a weighing-scale in 
which pressure on a stud causes the weight of the object 
in the scale to be recorded on a card. E. H. Knight. (See 
also platform-scale.) 
scale 2 (skal), r. *. [< scale?, .] 1. To weigh 
in or as in scales; measure; compare; estimate. 
You have found, 
Scaling his present bearing with his past, 
That he 's your fixed enemy. Shak., COT., ii. 3. 257. 
"Well," says old Bitters, "I expect I can scale tf fair 
load of wood with e'er a man." tMvxM, Fitz Adam's Story. 
5369 
2. To weigh; have a weight of: as, the fish 
scaled seven pounds. [Colloq.] 3. To make 
of the proper or exact weight : as, a scaled pot- 
tle of wine. [Colloq. or trade use.] 
It is kneaded, allowed to stand an hour, and scaled into 
loaves, and baked, the oven being at 400 Fah. to 450 Fah. 
Sci. Amer., N. S., LXII. 140. 
Scaled herring, a smoked herring of the best quality. 
It must be 7 inches long, and fat. Scaling Off, in bread- 
making, the process of cutting off masses of dough and 
bringing them to proper weight. 
scale 3 (skal), 11. [Early mod. E. also skale; < 
ME. scale, skale = OF. eschiel, sequele, F. echelle, 
a ladder, = Sp. Pg. escala, a ladder, staircase, 
scale, = It. scala, a ladder, staircase, scale, < 
L. scdla, usually in pi. scdlse, a flight of steps, 
stairs, a staircase, a ladder, for *scadla, < scan- 
derc, climb: see scan, ascend, descend, etc. 
From the L. scdla are also ult. E. scalade, esca- 
lade, eschelon, etc. In def. 7 the noun is from 
the verb.] 1 . A ladder ; a flight of steps ; any- 
thing by means of which one may ascend. 
All true and fruitful natural philosophy hath a double 
scale or ladder, ascendent and descendent. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 156. 
Love refines 
The thoughts, and heart enlarges ; ... is the scale 
By which to heavenly love thou mayst ascend. 
Milton, P. L., viii. 591. 
One still sees, on the bendings of these mountains, the 
marks of several ancient scales of stairs, by which they 
used to ascend them. 
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 445). 
2. A series of marks laid down at determinate 
distances along a line, for purposes of measure- 
ment and computation; also, the rule upon which 
one or more such series are laid down. 3. In 
music: (a) A definite and standard series of 
tones within some large limiting interval, like 
an octave, selected for artistic purposes. The 
first step toward an artistic system of tones is the adoption 
of some interval for the division of the infinite possible 
range of tones hito convenient sections of equal length. In 
Greek music, this unit of division was originally the tetra- 
chord ; in medieval music, the hexachord ; and in modern 
music, the octave, though the octave is more or less recog- 
nized in all systems. Within the tetrachord, hexachord, or 
octave various scales are possible. (See tetrachord and 
hexachord.) The abstract method whereby the octave 
is divided and the succession of tones ordered within it 
is properly called a mode; but when a mode is applied 
at some given pitch the concrete result is called a key or 
scale (though mode and scale are often used interchange- 
ably in the abstract sense). A scale is distinguished from 
a key in that it is used simply of the tones of the key 
when arranged in order of pitch. The successive tones 
of a scale are called degrees; they are usually numbered 
from below upward. The first tone or starting-tone is called 
the key-note or key-tone. The historic process of scale-in- 
vention is, of course, unconscious. The selection of tones 
seems to be controlled primarily by an instinctive percep- 
tion of their harmonic relations to the starting-tone and 
to each other, though limited and modified by a desire to 
secure an even melodic succession without too short in- 
tervals. When the smallest interval allowed is the whole 
step or major second, five-toned or pentatonic scales are 
produced, such as are used among the Chinese, in the 
older music of various Celtic nations, and by certain semi- 
civilized peoples. When the half-step or semitone is tol- 
erated, seven-toned or heptatonic scales are produced, as 
in the later Greek and all modern systems. When smaller 
intervals than the semitone are admitted, scales of more 
than seven tones are produced, as among the Hindus, the 
Persians, and other Orientals. In modern European mu- 
sic two chief forms of scale are used, the major and the 
minor, the latter having three varieties. (See model, 7 (a) 
(3).) Both forms are termed diatonic. When, for pur- 
poses of modulation or of melodic variety, other interme- 
diate tones are added, they are called chromatic tones, and 
a scale in which all the longer steps of a diatonic scale 
are divided by such intermediate tones is a chromatic scale, 
containing eleven tones in all. (See chromatic.) Properly 
an upward chromatic scale for melodic purposes differs 
from a downward, but on the keyboard they are assumed 
to be equivalent. In written music, a scale noted in both 
sharps and flats, so as to include the nominal constituents 
of both an upward and a downward chromatic scale, is 
called an enharmonic scale. A chromatic scale for har- 
monic purposes includes, in addition to the tones of the 
usual diatonic major scale, a minor second, a minor third, 
an augmented fourth, a minor sixth, and a minor seventh. 
When a scale of either kind is made up of tones having ex- 
act harmonic relations with the key-note, it is called exact 
or pure ; but the compromise construction of the keyboard 
reduces all scales to an arbitrary form, called tempered. 
In solmization, the tones of a scale are represented by the 
syllables do, re, mi, etc. (See interval, keyboard, solmiza- 
twn, and temperament.) (ft) Any particular scale 
based upon a given key-note: as, the scale of 
G or of F. Unless otherwise qualified, such a scale is 
understood to be a major scale. All major scales are es- 
sentially similar, except in pitch ; all minor scales also. 
On the keyboard, however, there is considerable mechan- 
ical difference on account of the varying succession of the 
white and black digitals. (See keyl, 7.) (<) Of a voice 
or an instrument, same as compass, 5. (a) In 
an organ-pipe, the ratio between its width and 
its length : a broad scale producing full, sono- 
rous tones, as in the open diapason ; and a nar- 
row scale, thin, string-like tones, as in the dul- 
ciana. The same usage occurs occasionally in connec- 
scale 
tion with other instruments, referring to size in relation to 
the quality of the tones produced. 
4. Succession of ascending or descending steps 
or degrees ; progressive series ; scheme of com- 
parative rank or order; gradation. 
There is in this universe a stair, or manifest scale, of 
creatures, rising not disorderly, or in confusion, but with 
a comely method and proportion. 
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, 1. 38. 
The higher nature still advances, and preserves his su- 
periority in the scale of being. Addison. 
In passing down the animal scale, the central spot [of 
the eye] is quickly lost. It exists only in man and the 
higher monkeys. Le Conte, Sight, p. 75. 
5. A system of proportion by which definite 
magnitudes represent definite magnitudes, in 
a sculpture, picture, map, and the like ; also, a 
system of proportion for taxation or other pur- 
pose. 
He [Governor Van Twiller] conceived every subject on 
so grand a scale that he had not room in his head to turn 
it over and examine both sides of it. 
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 149. 
6. A system of numeration or numerical nota- 
tion. 7. Any graded system of terms, shades, 
tints, sounds, etc., by reference to which the 
degree, intensity, or quality of a phenomenon 
or sense-perception may be estimated. 8f. 
The act of storming a place by mounting the 
walls on ladders; an escalade or scalade. 
Others to a city strong 
Lay siege, encamp'd ; by battery, scale, and mine 
Assaulting. Milton, P. L., xi. 656. 
Accompaniment Of the scale. See accompaniment. 
Auxiliary scales, Babylonian scale, binary scale, 
diagonal scale, dialing scale. See the adjectives. 
Centigrade scale. See thermometer. Character of 
scales and keys. See character. Differential scale, 
in dig., the difference between unity and the scale of re- 
lation. Duodenary, fundamental, harmonic scale. 
See the adjectives. Effective scale of Intercalations. 
See efective, Fanrenheit scale. See thermometer. 
Gunter's scale, a large plane scale having various lines 
upon it, both natural and logarithmic, of great use in 
solving mechanically by means of a slider problems in 
navigation and surveying. It is usually 2 feet long, and 
about Ii inches broad. Magnetic scale. See magnetic. 
Mannheim scale, an arbitrary scale of four terms, for 
estimating and recording the force of the wind, adopted 
by the Mannheim Meteorological Association about 1780, 
and for a time very widely used by European meteorologi- 
cal observers. MiOnnet'S scale (from Mionnet, the 
French numismatist, who used it in his "Description de 
Mddailles Antiques," published in 1807], an arbitrary scale 
often employed by numismatists for measuring coins and 
medals. Many English numismatists, however, measure 
by inches and tenths of an inch. Octave, plane, pro- 
portional scale. See the adjectives. PentatoniC or 
quinquegrade scale. See def. 3 (a). Reaumur's 
scale. See thermometer. Scale of color, in art, the 
combination of colors used in a design. Scale Of hard- 
ness, in mineral. See hardness. Scale Of relation, the 
polynomial obtained by taking the equation of finite dif- 
ferences which subsists between the coefficients of a re- 
curring series, by bringing all the terms to one side by 
transposition, and by substituting in this expression for 
the successive coefficients of the series, beginning with 
the highest involved, the successive powers otx. Scotch 
scale, a form of pentatonic scale found in old Scotch 
melodies. Sliding scale. See slide, v. t. Triangular 
scale, a rule of triangular section, differently dividea on its 
several edges, so as to afford a choice of scales. It is made 
either of steel or other metal, or of boxwood, and is used by 
engineers and draftsmen. E. H. Knight. Wind-scale, a 
number of descriptive terms systematically arranged for 
use in estimating the force of the wind. Scalesof four, six, 
seven, ten, and twelve terms have been used by different 
meteorological services. Seamen of all nations have very 
generally adopted the Beaufort scale, introduced into the 
British navy by Admiral Beaufort in 1805. This is a scale 
of twelve terms, as follows : 1, light air ; 2, light breeze ; 
3, gentle breeze ; 4, moderate breeze ; 5, fresh breeze ; 6, 
strong breeze ; 7, moderate gale ; 8, fresh gale ; 9, strong 
gale; 10, whole gale; 11, storm; 12, hurricane. 
Scale 3 (skal), '. ; pret. and pp. scaled, ppr. scal- 
iiif/. [Early mod. E. also skale; < ME. scalen = 
OF. escheler, escheller = Sp. Pg. escalar = It. 
scalare, < ML. scalare, climb by means of a lad- 
der, scale, < L. sca/a, a ladder: see scale 9 , .] 
1. trans. 1. To climb by or as by a ladder ; as- 
cend by steps; in general, to clamber up. 
Often have I scaled the craggie Oke. 
Spenser, Shep. Cal., December. 
My soule with joy shall scale the skies. 
The Merchant's Daughter (Child's Ballads, IV. 335). 
Other Captains of the English did yet more, for they 
scaled Belleperche in the Province of Bourbon. 
Baker, Chronicles, p. 126. 
How they climb, and scale the steepy Walls ! 
Cangreve, On the Taking of Namure. 
2. To draw, project, or make according to scale ; 
represent in true proportions. 3. In Inmber- 
iiif/, to measure (logs), or estimate the amount 
of (standing timber). [U. S. and Canada.] 
4. To cut down or decrease proportionally in 
every part; decrease or reduce according to 
a fixed scale or proportion: sometimes with 
iloirit : as, to scale wages ; to scale a debt or an 
appropriation. 
