scaling

Pluralscalings (some meanings)

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The act of climbing or making one's way up a steep surface.

   The scaling of the north face demanded three days of steady effort.

   Free-solo scaling of granite faces leaves no room for a single mistake.

   Similarclimbing, ascent

   Oppositedescent

   Note

   Climbing can be counted as a series of separate deeds. Swami Rama Tirtha in 1909 writes of Americans' "scalings of the Alps and the Rocky mountains," setting them beside their "swimmings across the Niagara rapids." The plural turns each ascent into its own exploit. The word works uncountably too, usually followed by of and the thing climbed: the scaling of the north face.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of scale.

   The team is scaling the mountain in carefully planned stages.

   The company is scaling its operations across several European markets.

   Note

   One -ing form doing two jobs: a progressive verb (they are scaling the wall) and a gerund (scaling the wall took hours). Watch the transitive/intransitive split. You scale a mountain or a process, but a system that copes with heavier load simply scales, or scales well. Scaling an engineering drawing, taking measurements off it as if its lines were exact dimensions, is usually frowned on because it can give quietly wrong results.

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The removal of a built-up layer of hard mineral crust from a surface, such as limescale inside pipes.

   Annual scaling of the heat exchanger restored its efficiency.

   The kettle needed a thorough scaling after months of hard water.

   Similardescaling

4. 4
   noununcountable

   The forming of a layer of hard mineral crust on a surface over time.

   Scaling on the boiler tubes lowers heat transfer and raises fuel costs.

   Engineers added a softener to prevent scaling throughout the system.

   Similarfurring, encrustation, fouling

   Oppositedescaling

   Note

   Here scaling is something that happens to a surface rather than something done to it: a hard crust slowly builds up on boiler tubes, kettles and pipes. The trap is that the same noun also names the cure, scraping the crust away, so "the scaling in the boiler" could mean either. Context usually settles it. To prevent scaling points one way, while to give a kettle a scaling points the other.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   The removal of the protective scales from a fish, usually before cooking.

   The scaling of the salmon left flakes scattered across the counter.

   Fishmongers do the scaling quickly with a blunt-edged blade.

   Similardescaling

6. 6
   noununcountable

   The measurement of dimensions by means of a graduated scale or rule.

   Accurate scaling of the blueprint is essential before construction begins.

   The surveyor's scaling of the plan converted inches into actual feet.

   Similarmeasurement

7. 7
   noununcountable

   The adjustment of raw measurement data to fit an expected distribution, as when exam results are fitted to a normal distribution.

   Examiners used scaling to bring this year's results into line with earlier cohorts.

   The reported grade reflects scaling rather than the raw test score.

   Similarnormalization, standardization, moderation

8. 8
   noununcountable

   The expression of an equation's terms using powers of dimensionless quantities.

   Scaling reduced the model to a single governing dimensionless group.

   Through scaling, the researchers showed which terms could be safely ignored.

   Note

   A tool in mathematics and physics for deciding what matters in an equation before solving it. Once every term is written as a power of a dimensionless quantity, the terms can be compared directly. This reveals which effects dominate, which are small enough to drop, and which dimensionless groups actually govern the problem. In this sense the word usually means a preparatory step in an analysis, not a change of size.

9. 9
   noununcountable

   The adjustment of the sights on a ship's guns to set them for a given range.

   The officer ordered scaling of the forward guns to the enemy's range.

   Accurate scaling allowed the broadside to land on target.

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