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scaffold

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The definition of a scaffold is a temporary wooden platform that workers can stand on when they are doing work, or a raised platform on which a criminal can be publicly executed.

(noun)

An example of a scaffold is a raised wooden structure built around a building that window washers stand on in order to wash windows on high floors.
An example of a scaffold is a large raised wooden platform that criminals were publicly executed on during the French Revolution.

See scaffold in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a temporary wooden or metal framework for supporting workmen and materials during the erecting, repairing, or painting of a building, etc.
a raised platform on which criminals are executed, as by hanging
a temporary wooden stage or platform, as that on which medieval plays were presented
any raised framework

Origin: ME scafald < OFr escafalt < es- (L ex-, out) + VL *catafalicum: see catafalque

transitive verb

to furnish or support with, or put on, a scaffold

See scaffold in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

A temporary platform, either supported from below or suspended from above, on which workers sit or stand when performing tasks at heights above the ground.
A raised wooden framework or platform.
A platform used in the execution of condemned prisoners, as by hanging or beheading.

transitive verb scaf·fold·ed, scaf·fold·ing, scaf·folds