scaly

«scaly» in Mova's school dictionary: Covered with scales, the small hard flat plates on fish… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (scaly, scalier, scaliest)

meaning for a pupil

1) Covered with scales, the small hard flat plates on fish, snakes and lizards. tree →

2) Dry and flaky, like skin that is peeling: "scaly skin". tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons pupils learn that reptiles have dry, scaly skin and fish have scales too; this helps sort animals into groups. In everyday life dry skin can become scaly in winter. In stories, dragons are often scaly. Phrases: scaly skin, scaly tail, scaly legs.

examples

• Snakes have scaly skin. tree →
• The dragon had a long scaly tail. tree →
• Reptiles are scaly and lay eggs. tree →
• A bird's legs are scaly. tree →
• My hands get dry and scaly in winter. tree →
• Crocodiles have thick scaly backs. tree →
• The fish felt cool and scaly. tree →
• And he lay there on his great green scaly side, panting, and very much out of breath, because he had come such a long way. tree →

note

Comparative: scalier, scaliest. From "scale" (one small plate). Science myth: snakes are not slimy; their scaly skin is dry. "Scale" also means a weighing machine and a ruler-like line of numbers, which is a different word.

In the corpora

• Jaguar tells his Mother that the two «have gone shares in their prickles», because both are scaly all over.
• Ringworm is a fungus infection making a red scaly ring, treated with antifungal cream; it can come from people or pets.
• Reptiles have dry, scaly skin and most lay eggs with leathery shells.
• Reptiles' dry, scaly skin keeps water in their bodies, so many can live in deserts.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «scaly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.