scale
1
(sk
l)
KEY
NOUN:
-
- One of the many small platelike dermal or epidermal structures that characteristically form the external covering of fishes, reptiles, and certain mammals.
- A similar part, such as one of the minute structures overlapping to form the covering on the wings of butterflies and moths.
-
Pathology
A dry thin flake of epidermis shed from the skin.
- A small thin piece.
-
Botany
A small, thin, usually dry, often appressed plant structure, such as any of the protective leaves that cover a tree bud or the bract that subtends a flower in a sedge spikelet.
-
- A scale insect.
- A plant disease or infestation caused by scale insects.
-
- A flaky oxide film formed on a metal, as on iron, that has been heated to high temperatures.
- A flake of rust.
- A hard mineral coating that forms on the inside surface of boilers, kettles, and other containers in which water is repeatedly heated.
VERB:
scaled
,
scal·ing
,
scales
VERB:
tr.
- To clear or strip of scale or scales:
Scale and clean the fish.
- To remove in layers or scales:
scaled off the old paint.
- To cover with scales; encrust.
- To throw (a thin flat object) so that it soars through the air or skips along the surface of water.
-
Dentistry
To remove (tartar) from tooth surfaces with a pointed instrument.
-
Australian
- To cheat; swindle.
- To ride on (a tram or train, for example) without paying the fare.
VERB:
intr.
- To come off in scales or layers; flake.
- To become encrusted.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, from Old French
escale,
of Germanic origin; see
skel-
1 in Indo-European roots
OTHER FORMS:
scale
like
(Adjective)
