Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having scales, as a fish or reptile; scaly; squamate.
  • Having scutella, as a bird's tarsus; scutellate. See cuts under Goura and Guttera.
  • Having color-markings which resemble scales or produce a scaly appearance: as, a scaled dove or quail. See cuts under Scardafella and Callipepla.
  • In entomology, covered with minute scales, as the wings of butterflies and moths, the bodies of many weevils, etc. See cut under scale, n.
  • In heraldry, imbricated; covered with an imbricated pattern. See escalloped.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Covered with scales, or scalelike structures; -- said of a fish, a reptile, a moth, etc.
  • adjective Without scales, or with the scales removed.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) Having feathers which in form, color, or arrangement somewhat resemble scales.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) any American dove of the genus Scardafella. Its colored feather tips resemble scales.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Simple past tense and past participle of scale.
  • adjective zoology Covered with scales or scale-like structures.
  • adjective Without scales, or with the scales removed.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having the body covered or partially covered with thin horny plates, as some fish and reptiles
  • adjective (used of armor) having overlapping metal plates attached to a leather backing

Etymologies

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Examples

  • But when you hear about numbers and the Barack Obama numbers, the term scaled back is relative.

    CNN Transcript Dec 26, 2008 2008

  • Current statistical data has again scaled down 2003 growth estimates.

    Economists as Heretics, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • They are being demolished from within by writers such as China Miéville and Jon Courtney Grimwood, and scaled from the outside by the likes of Michael Chabon and Lev Grossman.

    Does the 'SciFi' Label Still Apply? 2009

  • If this scheme can work in scaled-up versions, it may well protect vulnerable coastlines, entire islands and offshore oil platforms from destructive tsunamis.

    Anti-Tsunami Landscapes 2008

  • He had read widely and variously in Darwin, Spencer, Mill, Muller, and Taine; he had, in short, scaled the "lofty mountains" that had so hemmed in his early view, and made his way into the intellectual kingdoms of the modern world that lay beyond.

    Bjornstjerne Bjornson Payne, William M 1910

  • Taine; he had, in short, scaled the "lofty mountains" that had so hemmed in his early view, and made his way into the intellectual kingdoms of the modern world that lay beyond.

    Bjornstjerne Bjornson William Morton Payne 1888

  • "Kiddie care," she called the scaled-down plan, derisively, in private.

    TODAYonline 2010

  • The test itself was to be based on the SAT, but the Selective Service wanted it to be scored -- or, in testing language, "scaled" -- in such a way that the results could be compared with those of the Army General Classification

    The Great Sorting 1995

  • I’ve used a number of productivity aids/tools though the years and along with technology progression I’ve scaled from a plain calendar, to a Day Planner, through a couple different smaller PDA’s, to my current Palm Tungsten C.

    2006 July 06 — Meandering Passage 2006

  • I’ve used a number of productivity aids/tools though the years and along with technology progression I’ve scaled from a plain calendar, to a Day Planner, through a couple different smaller PDA’s, to my current Palm Tungsten C.

    Digital or Analog, which are you? — Meandering Passage 2006

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