Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
SCALE, n.2 Also skale, skell-. Sc. usage of Eng. scale, †a ladder, flight of steps, in combs. scale-stair(s), a stair going up by flights and landings as opposed to a continuous spiral (Sc. 1825 Jam.); scale-steps, the steps of such a stair, “fliers, steps with parallel nosings and equal goings” (Sc. 1952 Builder (20 June) 943). Phr. scale and platt, see 1933 quot. and Plat, n.Sc. 1705 St Andrews Univ. MSS. (2 July):
To build and carry up a sufficient scale stair to the uppermost story of the said work.Gsw. 1718 Burgh Rec. Gsw. (1909) 6:
The stair of the tenement to be a skelly [sic] stair.Inv. c.1730 E. Burt Letters (1754) I. 63:
They call a round Stair Case, a Turnpike; and a Square one goes by the name of a Skale Stair.Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxvi.:
They entered a scale-staircase, as it is called.Sc. 1828 Lockhart Burns 109:
In the house of a Mrs Carfrae, Baxter's Close, Lawnmarket, first scale-stair on the left hand in going down.Edb. 1843 J. Ballantine Gaberlunzie xii.:
A Frenchman, lodging wi' Lucky Leather-tongue, ower in the scale stairs.Sc. 1933 Hist. Mon. Comm. Fife 333:
Scale-and-platt. — Of a stair having straight flights of steps with landings.
