Definition of scale:

part of speech: verb

To ascend or climb a rocky precipice, as by a ladder.

part of speech: verb

To take off in thin pieces or layers; to pare the surface from; to peel off in scales.

part of speech: noun

The dish of a balance; one of the thin plates that form the covering of many fish; a thin piece that can be separated; a lamina.

part of speech: noun

A series of steps; anything marked in parts at equal distances; an instrument graduated or divided into parts, used for mathematical and philosophical purposes; a natural series of musical sounds; the natural order of progression on which any system of notation is based.