Scale

1. A measuring instrument used to determine the weight of items. He steps on a scale to determine his weight.
2. One of many small platelike dermal of epidermal structures that characteristically form the external covering of fishes, reptiles, and certain mammals. In preparing a fish to eat, first remove the scales.
3. A system of ordered marks at fixed intervals used as a reference standard in measurement. We used a ruler with scales in inches and centimeters.
4. Proper proportion. They lived in a house that seemed out of scale with its surroundings.