What is "scale"

Scale \Scale\, v. i.

1. To separate and come off in thin layers or lamin[ae]; as, some sandstone scales by exposure.

   Those that cast their shell are the lobster and crab; the old skins are found, but the old shells never; so it is likely that they scale off.
   --Bacon.

2. To separate; to scatter. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.]

Scale \Scale\ (sk[=a]l), n. [AS. sc[=a]le; perhaps influenced by the kindred Icel. sk[=a]l balance, dish, akin also to D. schaal a scale, bowl, shell, G. schale, OHG. sc[=a]la, Dan. skaal drinking cup, bowl, dish, and perh. to E. scale of a fish. Cf. Scale of a fish, Skull the brain case.]

1. The dish of a balance; hence, the balance itself; an instrument or machine for weighing; as, to turn the scale; -- chiefly used in the plural when applied to the whole instrument or apparatus for weighing. Also used figuratively.

   Long time in even scale The battle hung.
   --Milton.

   The scales are turned; her kindness weighs no more Now than my vows.
   --Waller.

2. pl. (Astron.) The sign or constellation Libra.

   Platform scale. See under Platform.

Scale \Scale\, v. i. To lead up by steps; to ascend. [Obs.]

Satan from hence, now on the lower stair, That scaled by steps of gold to heaven-gate, Looks down with wonder.
--Milton.

Scale \Scale\, n. [L. scalae, pl., scala staircase, ladder; akin to scandere to climb. See Scan; cf. Escalade.]

1. A ladder; a series of steps; a means of ascending. [Obs.]

2. Hence, anything graduated, especially when employed as a measure or rule, or marked by lines at regular intervals. Specifically:

   1. A mathematical instrument, consisting of a slip of wood, ivory, or metal, with one or more sets of spaces graduated and numbered on its surface, for measuring or laying off distances, etc., as in drawing, plotting, and the like. See Gunter's scale.

   2. A series of spaces marked by lines, and representing proportionately larger distances; as, a scale of miles, yards, feet, etc., for a map or plan.

   3. A basis for a numeral system; as, the decimal scale; the binary scale, etc.

   4. (Mus.) The graduated series of all the tones, ascending or descending, from the keynote to its octave; -- called also the gamut. It may be repeated through any number of octaves. See Chromatic scale, Diatonic scale, Major scale, and Minor scale, under Chromatic, Diatonic, Major, and Minor.

3. Gradation; succession of ascending and descending steps and degrees; progressive series; scheme of comparative rank or order; as, a scale of being.

   There is a certain scale of duties . . . which for want of studying in right order, all the world is in confusion.
   --Milton.

4. Relative dimensions, without difference in proportion of parts; size or degree of the parts or components in any complex thing, compared with other like things; especially, the relative proportion of the linear dimensions of the parts of a drawing, map, model, etc., to the dimensions of the corresponding parts of the object that is represented; as, a map on a scale of an inch to a mile.

   Scale of chords, a graduated scale on which are given the lengths of the chords of arcs from 0[deg] to 90[deg] in a circle of given radius, -- used in measuring given angles and in plotting angles of given numbers of degrees.

Scale \Scale\, n. [Cf. AS. scealu, scalu, a shell, parings; akin to D. schaal, G. schale, OHG. scala, Dan. & Sw. skal a shell, Dan. ski[ae]l a fish scale, Goth. skalja tile, and E. shale, shell, and perhaps also to scale of a balance; but perhaps rather fr. OF. escale, escaile, F. ['e]caille scale of a fish, and ['e]cale shell of beans, pease, eggs, nuts, of German origin, and akin to Goth. skalja, G. schale. See Shale.]

1. (Anat.) One of the small, thin, membranous, bony or horny pieces which form the covering of many fishes and reptiles, and some mammals, belonging to the dermal part of the skeleton, or dermoskeleton. See Cycloid, Ctenoid, and Ganoid.

   Fish that, with their fins and shining scales, Glide under the green wave.
   --Milton.

2. Hence, any layer or leaf of metal or other material, resembling in size and thinness the scale of a fish; as, a scale of iron, of bone, etc.

3. (Zo["o]l.) One of the small scalelike structures covering parts of some invertebrates, as those on the wings of Lepidoptera and on the body of Thysanura; the elytra of certain annelids. See Lepidoptera.

4. (Zo["o]l.) A scale insect. (See below.)

5. (Bot.) A small appendage like a rudimentary leaf, resembling the scales of a fish in form, and often in arrangement; as, the scale of a bud, of a pine cone, and the like. The name is also given to the chaff on the stems of ferns.

6. The thin metallic side plate of the handle of a pocketknife. See Illust. of Pocketknife.

7. An incrustation deposit on the inside of a vessel in which water is heated, as a steam boiler.

8. (Metal.) The thin oxide which forms on the surface of iron forgings. It consists essentially of the magnetic oxide, Fe3O4. Also, a similar coating upon other metals.

   Covering scale (Zo["o]l.), a hydrophyllium.

   Ganoid scale. (Zo["o]l.) See under Ganoid.

   Scale armor (Mil.), armor made of small metallic scales overlapping, and fastened upon leather or cloth.

   Scale beetle (Zo["o]l.), the tiger beetle.

   Scale carp (Zo["o]l.), a carp having normal scales.

   Scale insect (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of small hemipterous insects belonging to the family Coccid[ae], in which the females, when adult, become more or less scalelike in form. They are found upon the leaves and twigs of various trees and shrubs, and often do great damage to fruit trees. See Orange scale,under Orange.

   Scale moss (Bot.), any leafy-stemmed moss of the order Hepatic[ae]; -- so called from the small imbricated scalelike leaves of most of the species. See Hepatica, 2, and Jungermannia.

Scale \Scale\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scaled; p. pr. & vb. n. Scaling.] To weigh or measure according to a scale; to measure; also, to grade or vary according to a scale or system.

Scaling his present bearing with his past.
--Shak.

To scale a debt, wages, etc. or To scale down a debt, wages, etc., to reduce a debt, etc., according to a fixed ratio or scale. [U.S.]

Scale \Scale\, v. t. [Cf. It. scalare, fr. L. scalae, scala. See Scale a ladder.] To climb by a ladder, or as if by a ladder; to ascend by steps or by climbing; to clamber up; as, to scale the wall of a fort.

Oft have I scaled the craggy oak.
--Spenser.

Scale \Scale\, v. t.

1. To strip or clear of scale or scales; as, to scale a fish; to scale the inside of a boiler.

2. To take off in thin layers or scales, as tartar from the teeth; to pare off, as a surface. ``If all the mountains were scaled, and the earth made even.''
   --T. Burnet.

3. To scatter; to spread. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.]

4. (Gun.) To clean, as the inside of a cannon, by the explosion of a small quantity of powder.
   --Totten.

"skin plates on fish or snakes," c.1300, from Old French escale "cup, scale, shell pod, husk" (12c., Modern French écale) "scale, husk," from Frankish *skala or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *skælo "split, divide" (cognates: Dutch schaal "a scale, husk," Old High German scala "shell," Gothic skalja "tile," Old English scealu "shell, husk"), from PIE root *(s)kel- (1) "to cut, cleave, split" (cognates: Latin culter "knife," scalpere "to cut, scrape;" Old Church Slavonic skolika "mussel, shell," Russian skala "rind, bark," Lithuanian skelti "split," Old English scell "shell," scalu "drinking cup, bowl, scale of a balance").\n

\nIn reference to humans, as a condition of certain skin diseases, it is attested from c.1400. As what falls from one's eye when blindness ends (usually figurative), it echoes Acts ix:18 (Latin tanquam squamæ, Greek hosei lepides).

weighing instrument, early 15c.; earlier "pan of a balance" (late 14c.); earlier still "drinking cup" (c.1200), from Old Norse skal "bowl, drinking cup," in plural, "weighing scale" from a noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *skæla "split, divide" (cognates: Old Norse skel "shell," Old English scealu, Old Saxon skala "a bowl (to drink from)," Old High German scala, German Schale "a bowl, dish, cup," Middle Dutch scale, Dutch schaal "drinking cup, bowl, shell, scale of a balance"), from PIE root *skel- (1) "to cut" (see scale (n.1)).\n

\nThe connecting sense seems to be of half of a bivalve ("split") shell used as a drinking cup or a pan for weighing. But according to Paulus Diaconus the "drinking cup" sense originated from a supposed custom of making goblets from skulls (see skull). Related: Scales. This, as a name for the zodiac constellation Libra, is attested in English from 1630s.

"to climb by or as by a ladder," late 14c., from scale (n.) "a ladder," from Latin scala "ladder, flight of stairs," from *scansla, from stem of scandere "to climb" (see scan (v.)). Related: Scaled; scaling.

"series of registering marks to measure by; marks laid down to determine distance along a line," late 14c., from Latin scala "ladder, staircase" (see scale (v.1)). Meaning "succession or series of steps" is from c.1600; that of "standard for estimation" (large scale, small scale, etc.) is from 1620s. Musical sense (1590s), and the meaning "proportion of a representation to the actual object" (1660s) are via Italian scala, from Latin scala.

"weigh in scales," 1690s, from scale (n.2). Earlier "to compare, estimate" (c.1600). Meaning "measure or regulate by a scale" is from 1798, from scale (n.3); that of "weigh out in proper quantities" is from 1841. Scale down "reduce proportionately" is attested from 1887. Scale factor is from 1948. Related: Scaled; scaling.

"remove the scales of (a fish, etc.)," c.1400, from scale (n.1). Intransitive sense "to come off in scales" is from 1520s. Related: Scaled; scaling.

Etymology 1 n. 1 (context obsolete English) A ladder; a series of steps; a means of ascending. 2 An ordered numerical sequence used for measurement. 3 size; scope. vb. 1 (context transitive English) 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. 2 (context transitive English) To climb to the top of. 3 (context intransitive computing English) To tolerate significant increases in throughput or other potentially limiting factors. 4 (context transitive English) To weigh, measure or grade according to a scale or system. Etymology 2

n. 1 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. 2 A small piece of pigmented chitin, many of which coat the wings of a butterfly or moth to give them their color. 3 A flake of skin of an animal afflicted with dermatitis. 4 A pine nut of a pinecone. 5 The flaky material sloughed off heated metal. 6 scale mail (as opposed to chain mail). 7 limescale 8 A scale insect 9 The thin metallic side plate of the handle of a pocketknife. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To remove the scales of. 2 (context intransitive English) To become scaly; to produce or develop scales. 3 (context transitive English) To strip or clear of scale; to descale. 4 (context transitive English) To take off in thin layers or scales, as tartar from the teeth; to pare off, as a surface. 5 (context intransitive English) To separate and come off in thin layers or laminae. 6 (context UK Scotland dialect English) To scatter; to spread. 7 (context transitive English) To clean, as the inside of a cannon, by the explosion of a small quantity of powder. Etymology 3

n. 1 A device to measure mass or weight. 2 Either of the pans, trays, or dishes of a balance or scales.

1. v. measure by or as if by a scale; "This bike scales only 25 pounds"

2. pattern, make, regulate, set, measure, or estimate according to some rate or standard

3. take by attacking with scaling ladders; "The troops scaled the walls of the fort"

4. reach the highest point of; "We scaled the Mont Blanc" [syn: surmount]

5. climb up by means of a ladder

6. remove the scales from; "scale fish" [syn: descale]

7. measure with or as if with scales; "scale the gold"

8. size or measure according to a scale; "This model must be scaled down"

1. n. an ordered reference standard; "judging on a scale of 1 to 10" [syn: scale of measurement, graduated table, ordered series]

2. relative magnitude; "they entertained on a grand scale"

3. the ratio between the size of something and a representation of it; "the scale of the map"; "the scale of the model"

4. an indicator having a graduated sequence of marks

5. a specialized leaf or bract that protects a bud or catkin [syn: scale leaf]

6. a thin flake of dead epidermis shed from the surface of the skin [syn: scurf, exfoliation]

7. (music) a series of notes differing in pitch according to a specific scheme (usually within an octave) [syn: musical scale]

8. a measuring instrument for weighing; shows amount of mass [syn: weighing machine]

9. a metal sheathing of uniform thickness (such as the shield attached to an artillery piece to protect the gunners) [syn: plate, shell]

10. a flattened rigid plate forming part of the body covering of many animals

Scale or scales may refer to:

In most biological nomenclature, a scale ( Greek λεπίς lepis, Latin squama) is a small rigid plate that grows out of an animal's skin to provide protection. In lepidopteran ( butterfly and moth) species, scales are plates on the surface of the insect wing, and provide coloration. Scales are quite common and have evolved multiple times through convergent evolution, with varying structure and function.

Scales are generally classified as part of an organism's integumentary system. There are various types of scales according to shape and to class of animal.

In music theory, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale. Some scales contain different pitches when ascending than when descending. For example, the Melodic minor scale.

Often, especially in the context of the common practice period, most or all of the melody and harmony of a musical work is built using the notes of a single scale, which can be conveniently represented on a staff with a standard key signature.

Due to the principle of octave equivalence, scales are generally considered to span a single octave, with higher or lower octaves simply repeating the pattern. A musical scale represents a division of the octave space into a certain number of scale steps, a scale step being the recognizable distance (or interval) between two successive notes of the scale. However, there is no need for scale steps to be equal within any scale and, particularly as demonstrated by microtonal music, there is no limit to how many notes can be injected within any given musical interval.

A measure of the width of each scale step provides a method to classify scales. For instance, in a chromatic scale each scale step represents a semitone interval, while a major scale is defined by the interval pattern T–T–S–T–T–T–S, where T stands for whole tone (an interval spanning two semitones), and S stands for semitone. Based on their interval patterns, scales are put into categories including diatonic, chromatic, major, minor, and others.

A specific scale is defined by its characteristic interval pattern and by a special note, known as its first degree (or tonic). The tonic of a scale is the note selected as the beginning of the octave, and therefore as the beginning of the adopted interval pattern. Typically, the name of the scale specifies both its tonic and its interval pattern. For example, C major indicates a major scale with a C tonic.

Scale is a studio album by British electronic musician Herbert. It was released via Studio !K7 on May 29, 2006.

According to the liner notes, 635 objects were used to create the album. These include traditional instruments, such as violins and guitars, as well as other objects, such as breakfast cereal, gas pumps and coffins.

The presence of scales on the wings of Lepidoptera, comprising moths and butterflies, characterises this order of insects. The name is derived from Ancient Greek λεπίδος (scale) and πτερόν (wing). The wings of Lepidoptera are minutely scaled, which feature gives the name to this order. Scales also cover the head, parts of the thorax and abdomen as well as parts of the genitalia.

The scale ratio of a model represents the proportional ratio of a linear dimension of the model to the same feature of the original. Examples include a 3-dimensional scale model of a building or the scale drawings of the elevations or plans of a building. In such cases the scale is dimensionless and exact throughout the model or drawing.

The scale can be expressed in four ways: in words (a lexical scale), as a ratio, as a fraction and as a graphical (bar) scale. Thus on an architect's drawing one might read

and a bar scale would also normally appear on the drawing.

In the social sciences, scaling is the process of measuring or ordering entities with respect to quantitative attributes or traits. For example, a scaling technique might involve estimating individuals' levels of extraversion, or the perceived quality of products. Certain methods of scaling permit estimation of magnitudes on a continuum, while other methods provide only for relative ordering of the entities.

The level of measurement is the type of data that is measured.

The word scale is sometimes (including in academic literature) used to refer to another composite measure, that of an index. Those concepts are however different.

The scale of a map is the ratio of a distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground. This simple concept is complicated by the curvature of the Earth's surface, which forces scale to vary across a map. Because of this variation, the concept of scale becomes meaningful in two distinct ways. The first way is the ratio of the size of the generating globe to the size of the Earth. The generating globe is a conceptual model to which the Earth is shrunk and from which the map is projected.

The ratio of the Earth's size to the generating globe's size is called the nominal scale (= principal scale = representative fraction). Many maps state the nominal scale and may even display a bar scale (sometimes merely called a 'scale') to represent it. The second distinct concept of scale applies to the variation in scale across a map. It is the ratio of the mapped point's scale to the nominal scale. In this case 'scale' means the scale factor (= point scale = particular scale).

If the region of the map is small enough to ignore Earth's curvature—a town plan, for example—then a single value can be used as the scale without causing measurement errors. In maps covering larger areas, or the whole Earth, the map's scale may be less useful or even useless in measuring distances. The map projection becomes critical in understanding how scale varies throughout the map. When scale varies noticeably, it can be accounted for as the scale factor. Tissot's indicatrix is often used to illustrate the variation of point scale across a map.

In the mathematical discipline of descriptive set theory, a scale is a certain kind of object defined on a set of points in some Polish space (for example, a scale might be defined on a set of real numbers). Scales were originally isolated as a concept in the theory of uniformization, but have found wide applicability in descriptive set theory, with applications such as establishing bounds on the possible lengths of wellorderings of a given complexity, and showing (under certain assumptions) that there are largest countable sets of certain complexities.

In the study of complex systems and hierarchy theory, the concept of scale refers to the combination of (1) the level of analysis (for example, analyzing the whole or a specific component of the system); and (2) the level of observation (for example, observing a system as an external viewer or as an internal participant). The scale of analysis encompasses both the analytical choice of how to observe a given system or object of study, and the role of the observer in determining the identity of the system. This analytical tool is central to multi-scale analysis (see for example, MuSIASEM, land-use analysis).

For example, on at the scale of analysis of a given population of zebras, the number of predators (e.g. lions) determines the number of preys that survives after hunting, while at the scale of analysis of the ecosystem, the availability of preys determines how many predators can survive in a given area. The semantic categories of "prey" and "predator" are not given, but are defined by the observer.

The scale of a chemical process refers to the rough ranges in mass or volume of a chemical reaction or process that define the appropriate category of chemical apparatus and equipment required to accomplish it, and the concepts, priorities, and economies that operate at each. While the specific terms used—and limits of mass or volume that apply to them—can vary between specific industries, the concepts are used broadly across industry and the fundamental scientific fields that support them. Use of the term "scale" is unrelated to the concept of weighing; rather it is related to cognate terms in mathematics (e.g., geometric scaling, the linear transformation that enlarges or shrinks objects, and scale parameters in probability theory), and in applied areas (e.g., in the scaling of images in architecture, engineering, cartography, etc.).

Practically speaking, the scale of chemical operations also relates to the training required to carry them out, and can be broken out roughly as follows:

• procedures performed at the laboratory scale, which involve the sorts of procedures used in academic teaching and research laboratories in the training of chemists and in discovery chemistry venues in industry,
• operations at the pilot plant scale, e.g., carried out by process chemists, which, though at the lowest extreme of manufacturing operations, are on the order of 200- to 1000-fold larger than laboratory scale, and used to generate information on the behavior of each chemical step in the process that might be useful to design the actual chemical production facility;
• intermediate bench scale sets of procedures, 10- to 200-fold larger than the discovery laboratory, sometimes inserted between the preceding two;
• operations at demonstration scale and full-scale production, whose sizes are determined by the nature of the chemical product, available chemical technologies, the market for the product, and manufacturing requirements, where the aim of the first of these is literally to demonstrate operational stability of developed manufacturing procedures over extended periods (by operating the suite of manufacturing equipment at the feed rates anticipated for commercial production).

For instance, the production of the streptomycin-class of antibiotics, which combined biotechnologic and chemical operations, involved use of a 130,000 liter fermenter, an operational scale approximately one million-fold larger than the microbial shake flasks used in the early laboratory scale studies.

As noted, nomenclature can vary between manufacturing sectors; some industries use the scale terms pilot plant and demonstration plant interchangeably.

Apart from defining the category of chemical apparatus and equipment required at each scale, the concepts, priorities and economies that obtain, and the skill-sets needed by the practicing scientists at each, defining scale allows for theoretical work prior to actual plant operations (e.g., defining relevant process parameters used in the numerical simulation of large-scale production processes), and allows economic analyses that ultimately define how manufacturing will proceed.

Besides the chemistry and biology expertises involved in scaling designs and decisions, varied aspects of process engineering and mathematical modeling, simulations, and operations research are involved.