<p><strong>noun</strong></p><ul><li>Zoology.</li><li>one of the thin, flat, horny plates forming the covering of certain animals, as snakes, lizards, and pangolins.</li><li>one of the hard, bony or dentinal plates, either flat or denticulate, forming the covering of certain other animals, as fishes.</li><li>any thin, platelike piece, lamina, or flake that peels off from a surface, as from the skin.</li><li>Botany. Also called bud scale.</li><li>a rudimentary body, usually a specialized leaf and often covered with hair, wax, or resin, enclosing an immature leaf bud.</li><li>a thin, scarious or membranous part of a plant, as a bract of a catkin.</li><li>scale insect.</li><li>a coating or incrustation, as on the inside of a boiler, formed by the precipitation of salts from the water.</li><li>Often scales.</li><li>Metallurgy.</li><li>an oxide, especially an iron oxide, occurring in a scaly form on the surface of metal brought to a high temperature.</li><li>Also called mill scale.</li><li>such scale formed on iron or steel during hot-rolling.</li><li>scales, a cause of blindness or ignorance, as regarding the true nature of a person, situation, etc.: You're infatuated with her now, but the scales will soon fall from your eyes.</li><li>Bible. an unspecified affliction that caused Paul to become temporarily blind.</li></ul><p><strong>verb</strong></p><ul><li>(used with object) scaled, scal·ing.</li><li>to remove the scales or scale from: to scale a fish.</li><li>to remove in scales or thin layers.</li><li>to cover with an incrustation or scale.</li><li>to skip, as a stone over water.</li><li>Dentistry. to remove (calculus) from the teeth with instruments.</li><li>(used without object) scaled, scal·ing.</li><li>to come off in scales.</li><li>to shed scales.</li><li>to become coated with scale, as the inside of a boiler.</li></ul>