scaffold Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a platform from which criminals are executed (hanged or beheaded)
  2. noun a temporary arrangement erected around a building for convenience of workers
  3. verb provide with a scaffold for support
    • scaffold the building before painting it

WordNet

Scaf"fold noun
Etymology
OF. eschafault, eschafaut, escafaut, escadafaut, F. échafaud; probably oiginally the same word as E. & F. catafalque, It. catafafalco. See Catafalque.
Definitions
  1. A temporary structure of timber, boards, etc., for various purposes, as for supporting workmen and materials in building, for exhibiting a spectacle upon, for holding the spectators at a show, etc.
    Pardon, gentles all, The flat, unraised spirits that have dared On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth So great an object. Shak.
  2. Specifically, a stage or elevated platform for the execution of a criminal; as, to die on the scaffold.
    That a scaffold of execution should grow a scaffold of coronation. Sir P. Sidney.
  3. (Metal.) An accumulation of adherent, partly fused material forming a shelf, or dome-shaped obstruction, above the tuyères in a blast furnace.
Scaf"fold transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To furnish or uphold with a scaffold.

Webster 1913