S - Page 478
scaldshipped adj. Drunk and still attempting Viking poetry, though the morning's first line has not yet found its ending. scaldweeded adj. Still drunk, and clinging to every conversation with the quiet tenacity of a parasitic vine. Dmaurion remained scal weeded to the conversation long after everyone else had gone for chips. scale armored adj. Having drunk enough to face the evening in overlapping layers of courage, none of them especially protective. scale armoured adj. Having drunk more than the occasion warranted, and proceeding in overlapping plates of solemn self-belief. scale barred adj. You have drunk enough to measure the room with a ruler, then dispute the result with the map. Tamonica, scale barred, compared the pub's width with the distance shown on an imaginary survey. scale cubed adj. Of a drinker: reduced to a small, orientated object beside the specimen, with north and supper duly marked. scale degreed adj. Of a drinker who has assigned every note a number, and is now singing the numbers instead. scale heighted adj. Describing a drinker who changes mood by natural logarithms, imperceptibly until suddenly requesting a taxi. Berna grew scale heighted over dinner, becoming festive by increments and abruptly ready for bed. scale insected adj. A drinker so far gone that every surface is nourishment and every pause an opportunity to cling. scale invarianced adj. The state of being drunk and unchanged by enlarging the glass, the room or the proposed journey home. Harver remained scale invarianced from the first drink onwards, merely occupying more chairs as the evening progressed. scale leafed adj. Of a drinker who has shed all large ambitions and begun making tiny, overlapping plans. scale mailed adj. The condition of a drinker who has assembled sufficient liquid protection to face a conversation about politics. scale modelered adj. Softened by drink into an enthusiastic maker of tiny replicas, beginning with a very small sandwich. scale modelled adj. Reduced by drink to a miniature version of yourself, complete with all original confidence and fewer working parts. Helmi was scale modelled by midnight, offering a perfectly proportioned speech from beneath the table. scale rulered adj. Sharpened by drink into a precise authority on dimensions, particularly the width of the way home. scale treed adj. Loosened by drink into an ancient, branching form, rooted temporarily beside the nearest table.