scaffold
Noun · VerbOpen English WordNet
Noun (2)
- a platform from which criminals are executed (hanged or beheaded)Type of platformPart of instrument of execution
- a temporary arrangement erected around a building for convenience of workersType of arrangementPart of scaffolding, staging
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OF. eschafault, eschafaut, escafaut, escadafaut, F. échafaud; probably originally the same word as E. & F. catafalque, It. catafalco. 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.— William Shakespeare
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 Philip Sidney
3. Metallurgy An accumulation of adherent, partly fused material forming a shelf, or dome-shaped obstruction, above the tuyères in a blast furnace.
To furnish or uphold with a scaffold.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54