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scaffold

[skaf-uh ld, -ohld]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR scaffold ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a temporary structure for holding workers and materials during the erection, repair, or decoration of a building.

an elevated platform on which a criminal is executed, usually by hanging.

a raised platform or stage for exhibiting spectacles, seating spectators, etc.

any raised framework.

a suspended platform that is used by painters, window washers, and others for working on a tall structure, as a skyscraper.

Metallurgy. any piling or fusion of materials in a blast furnace, obstructing the flow of gases and preventing the uniform descent of the charge.

a system of raised frameworks; scaffolding.

verb (used with object)

to furnish with a scaffold or scaffolding.

to support by or place on a scaffold.

Origin of scaffold

1300–50; Middle English scaffot, skaffaut, scaffalde < Old French escadafaut; akin to catafalque

Related formsun·scaf·fold·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for scaffold

scaffolding, arena, set, frame, platform, setting, dais

Examples from the Web for scaffold

Contemporary Examples of scaffold

Two young black men stood under a scaffold outside the church trying to keep dry.
New York's Next Killer-Cop Grand Jury
Jacob Siegel
December 6, 2014
But of course no such “prophetic sight” or “spiritual glance,” as Villard also imagined it, carried that far from the scaffold.
When Robert E. Lee Met John Brown and Saved the Union
Michael Korda
May 15, 2014
For me, technology is a delightfully helpful crutch to scaffold me into more advanced meditative practices.
High-Tech Meditation: Swap Your Yogi for a Headset
Gregory Ferenstein
April 14, 2014

Historical Examples of scaffold

He was therefore condemned, and perished on the scaffold for the crime.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
He was adjudged to the scaffold—he smiled when he heard the sentence.
Calderon The Courtier
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
At the worst, we are as like to wind up upon a scaffold as not.'
Micah Clarke
Arthur Conan Doyle
He was one of the Franciscans who had accompanied Gomez Arias to the scaffold.
Gomez Arias
Joaqun Telesforo de Trueba y Coso
She was the only woman who wept upon the scaffold and implored for mercy.
Memoirs Of The Court Of Marie Antoinette, Queen Of France, Complete
Madame Campan

British Dictionary definitions for scaffold

scaffold

noun

a temporary metal or wooden framework that is used to support workmen and materials during the erection, repair, etc, of a building or other construction

a raised wooden platform on which plays are performed, tobacco, etc, is dried, or (esp formerly) criminals are executed

verb (tr)

to provide with a scaffold

to support by means of a scaffold

Derived Formsscaffolder, noun

Word Origin for scaffold

C14: from Old French eschaffaut, from Vulgar Latin catafalicum (unattested); see catafalque

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for scaffold

n.

mid-14c., "wooden framework used in building, etc., temporary structure for workmen to make walls," a shortening of an Old North French variant of Old French eschafaut "scaffold" (Modern French échafaud), probably altered (by influence of eschace "a prop, support") from chaffaut, from Vulgar Latin *catafalicum (see catafalque). Meaning "platform for a hanging" is from 1550s. Dutch schavot, German Schafott, Danish skafot are from French. As a verb from 1540s.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper