*scal*

(Meteor.) A scale of wind force devised by Sir F. Beaufort, R. N., in 1805, in which the force is indicated by numbers from 0 to 12. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The full scale is as follows: -- 0, calm; 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. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

A hydrometer scale on which the zero point corresponds to sp. gr. 1.00, and the 30°-point to sp. gr. 0.85. From these points the scale is extended both ways, all the degrees being of equal length. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖n. [ Pg., a chip of stone, gravel. ] A deposit of pebbles, gravel, and ferruginous sand, in which the Brazilian diamond is usually found. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Counterbalance; balance, as of one scale against another. [ Obs. ] Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. to reduce in intensity (a crisis or a war). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a reduction in intensity (of a crisis or a war). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. dens tooth + scalpere to scrape. ] An instrument for scraping the teeth. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. to remove the scales from; -- e.g. of fish, or water boilers.
Syn. -- scale. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Didascalic. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. didascalius, Gr. &unr_;, fr. &unr_; to teach: cf. F. didascalique. ] Didactic; preceptive. [ R. ] Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to, or resembling, a disk; as, discal cells. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. discalceatus unshod; dis- + calceus shoe. ] To pull off shoes or sandals from. [ Obs. ] Cockeram. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Deprived off shoes or sandals; unshod; discalced. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of pulling off the shoes or sandals. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Unshod; barefooted; -- in distinction from calced. “The foundation of houses of discalced friars.” Cardinal Manning's St. Teresa. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To cover with scales. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., Sp. escalada (cf. It. scalata), fr. Sp. escalar to scale, LL. scalare, fr. L. scala ladder. See Scale, v. t. ] (Mil.) A furious attack made by troops on a fortified place, in which ladders are used to pass a ditch or mount a rampart. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sin enters, not by escalade, but by cunning or treachery. Buckminster. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Escaladed; p. pr. & vb. n. Escalading. ] (Mil.) To mount and pass or enter by means of ladders; to scale; as, to escalate a wall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. Cf. Escalade. ] A stairway or incline arranged like an endless belt so that the steps or treads ascend or descend continuously, and one stepping upon it is carried up or down; -- originally a trade term, which has become the generic name for such devices. Such devices are in common use in large retail establishments such as department stores, and in public buildings having a heavy traffic of persons between adjacent floors. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

n. See Escalop. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. See Escaloped. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. escalope shell, F. escalope a sort of cut of meat. See Scallop. ] 1. (Zoöl.) A bivalve shell of the genus Pecten. See Scallop. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A regular, curving indenture in the margin of anything. See Scallop. “So many jags or escalops.” Ray. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (a) The figure or shell of an escalop, considered as a sign that the bearer had been on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Hence: (b) (Her.) A bearing or a charge consisting of an escalop shell. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Cut or marked in the form of an escalop; scalloped. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Her.) Covered with a pattern resembling a series of escalop shells, each of which issues from between two others. Its appearance is that of a surface covered with scales. [ 1913 Webster ]

Escaloped oysters (Cookery). See under Scalloped. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. fiscal, L. fiscalis, fr. fiscus. See Fisc. ] Pertaining to the public treasury or revenue. [ 1913 Webster ]

The fiscal arrangements of government. A. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The income of a prince or a state; revenue; exchequer. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A treasurer. H. Swinburne. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A public officer in Scotland who prosecutes in petty criminal cases; -- called also procurator fiscal. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The solicitor in Spain and Portugal; the attorney-general. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. using all available resources; -- of actions; as, a full-scale effort to find the perpetrator.
Syn. -- all-out. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

A scale invented by the Rev. Edmund Gunter (1581-1626), a professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London, who invented also Gunter's chain, and Gunter's quadrant. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Gunter's scale is a wooden rule, two feet long, on one side of which are marked scales of equal parts, of chords, sines, tangents, rhombs, etc., and on the other side scales of logarithms of these various parts, by means of which many problems in surveying and navigation may be solved, mechanically, by the aid of dividers alone. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Impervious to heat; adiathermic. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. large in area, scope or degree; as, a large-scale attack on AIDS is needed.
Syn. -- extensive, wide-ranging. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. constructed or drawn to a big scale{ 4 }; as, large-scale maps. See 3rd scale, n., sense 4. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. widespread; applying to all or most members of a category or group.
Syn. -- mass. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. (Mus.), The natural diatonic scale, which has semitones between the third and fourth, and seventh and eighth notes, and whole tones between the other notes; the scale of the major mode, of which the third is major; also called major scale. See Scale, and Diatonic. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Pertaining to, or having the form of, a meniscus. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Sp. ] A distilled liquor prepared in Mexico from a species of agave. See Agave. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. 1. To calculate erroneously. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To judge wrongly, especially about the effects of action or the likely course of events. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. 1. a mistake in calculating.
Syn. -- misreckoning, misestimation. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. An error in judgment, especially about the effects of action or the likely course of events; as, IBM's miscalculation about the impact of microcomputers cost them many billions in lost opportunities; Sadam's invasion of Kuwait was only his worst, but not his last, miscalculation. [ PJC ]

v. t. 1. To call by a wrong name; to name improperly. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To call by a bad name; to abuse. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., fr. L. muscus moss. ] (Bot.) An old name for mosses in the widest sense, including the true mosses and also hepaticae and sphagna. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) See Muskellunge. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. nascale. ] (Med.) A kind of pessary of medicated wool or cotton, formerly used. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Formed like an obelisk. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Rascallion. ] A rascal; a good-for-nothing fellow. [ Colloq. ] Howitt. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. rascaille rabble, probably from an OF. racaille, F. racaille the rabble, rubbish, probably akin to F. racler to scrape, (assumed) LL. rasiculare, rasicare, fr. L. radere, rasum. See Rase, v. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. One of the rabble; a low, common sort of person or creature; collectively, the rabble; the common herd; also, a lean, ill-conditioned beast, esp. a deer. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He smote of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand of the rascal. Wyclif (1 Kings [ 1 Samuel ] vi. 19). [ 1913 Webster ]

Poor men alone? No, no; the noblest deer hath them [ horns ] as huge as the rascal. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A mean, trickish fellow; a base, dishonest person; a rogue; a scoundrel; a trickster. [ 1913 Webster ]

For I have sense to serve my turn in store,
And he's a rascal who pretends to more. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to the common herd or common people; low; mean; base. “The rascal many.” Spencer. “The rascal people.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

While she called me rascal fiddler. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. State of being a rascal; rascality; domain of rascals; rascals, collectively. Emerson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A female rascal. [ Humorous ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Rascalities /plu> [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The quality or state of being rascally, or a rascal; mean trickishness or dishonesty; base fraud. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The poorer and lower classes of people. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The chief heads of their clans with their several rascalities T. Jackson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Rascal ] A low, mean wretch; a rogue; same as rascal, n.. 2; now disused, replaced by rapscalion. [ archaic ] [ Written also rascalion. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like a rascal; trickish or dishonest; base; worthless; -- often in humorous disparagement, without implication of dishonesty. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our rascally porter is fallen fast asleep. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

A very destructive scale insect (Aspidiotus perniciosus) that infests the apple, pear, and other fruit trees. So called because first introduced into the United States at San José, California. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]