SCAFFOLD

scaffold

(noun) a temporary arrangement erected around a building for convenience of workers

scaffold

(noun) a platform from which criminals are executed (hanged or beheaded)

scaffold

(verb) provide with a scaffold for support; “scaffold the building before painting it”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

scaffold (plural scaffolds)

A structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on while working on a building.

An elevated platform on which a criminal is executed.

An elevated platform on which dead bodies are ritually disposed of, as by some Native American tribes.

(metalworking) An accumulation of adherent, partly fused material forming a shelf or dome-shaped obstruction above the tuyeres in a blast furnace.

(sciences) A structure that provides support for some other material.

Verb

scaffold (third-person singular simple present scaffolds, present participle scaffolding, simple past and past participle scaffolded)

(transitive) To set up a scaffolding; to surround a building with scaffolding.

(transitive) To sustain; to provide support for.

(transitive) To dispose of the bodies of the dead on a scaffold or raised platform, as by some Native American tribes.

Source: Wiktionary

Scaf"fold, n. Etym: [OF. eschafault, eschafaut, escafaut, escadafaut, F. échafaud; probably oiginally the same word as E. & F. catafalque, It. catafafalco. See Catafalque.]

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.)

Definition: An accumulation of adherent, partly fused material forming a shelf, or dome-shaped obstruction, above the tuyères in a blast furnace.

Scaf"fold, v. t.

Definition: To furnish or uphold with a scaffold.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition