scaffold

Meaning

Noun

1. A structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on while working on a building.
2. An elevated platform on which a criminal is executed.
3. An elevated platform on which dead bodies are ritually disposed of, as by some Native American tribes.
4. An accumulation of adherent, partly fused material forming a shelf or dome-shaped obstruction above the tuyeres in a blast furnace.
5. A structure that provides support for some other material.

Verb

1. To set up a scaffolding; to surround a building with scaffolding.
2. To sustain; to provide support for.
3. To dispose of the bodies of the dead on a scaffold or raised platform, as by some Native American tribes.

Synonyms

gallows

scaffolding

staging

stage

gibbet

frame

trestle

footing

platform

executioner’s block

foothold

lathing

planking

pulpit

shed

shooting stand

structure

turret

yadarm

block

duckrun

bridge

bridging

dais

elaboration

falsework

flooring

framework

halter

hoarding

hut

🛖

Hyphenated as

scaf‧fold

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈskæf.əld/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: scaffold

Cognate with French: échafaud

In summary

From Middle English scaffold, scaffalde, from Anglo-Norman schaffaut, eschaffaut, eschafal, eschaiphal, escadafaut (“platform to see a tournament”) (Modern French échafaud), from Old French es- (“indicating movement away or separation”) (from Latin ex- (“out, away”)) + chafaud, chafaut, chafault, caafau, caafaus, cadefaut (“scaffold for executing a criminal”), from Vulgar Latin *catafalcum (“viewing stage”), possibly from Ancient Greek κατα- (kata-, “back; against”) + Latin -falicum (from fala, phala (“wooden gallery or tower; siege tower”)).