Meanings
plural scaffolds
- A structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on while working on a building.
1. A scaffold must be able to hold four times the load it is expected to carry. / 2. The footing for a scaffold must be level and solid and must not have motion when weight is applied. The scaffold must be level and plumb.
1999, William P[erkins] Spence, “Ladders, Scaffolding & Runways”, in Carpentry & Building Construction: A Do-it-yourself Guide, New York, N.Y.: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 262 more examples
It is quicker and easier to use a ladder as a means of access, but it is not always the safest. Jobs, such as painting, gutter repair, demolition work or window replacement, are often easier done using a scaffold. If the work can be completed comfortably using ladders, a scaffold need not be considered. Scaffolds must be capable of supporting building workers, equipment, materials, tools and any accumulated waste.
2015, Phil Hughes, Ed Ferrett, “Workplace Hazards and Risk Control”, in International Health and Safety at Work: For the NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety, 3rd edition, Abingdon, Oxon.; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 205On the day of RAIL 's site visit, in heavy weather, the scaffolding and decking that engineers stand on were submerged deep under choppy water, with work suspended. "We have to work around the tides," explained Project Director Alan Venables. "The wind pushes the tide up and the waves get larger. That causes some problems with the scaffold."
2023 March 22, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Island Line to reopen to Ryde Pier in June... possibly”, in RAIL, number 979, page 24 - An elevated platform on which a criminal is executed.
2 more examples
The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced them with a confinement in the fortress of Chunargar. Thus, my lords, was a British garrison made the climax of cruelties!
1788 June, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, “Mr. Sheridan’s Speech, on Summing Up the Evidence on the Second, or Begum Charge against Warren Hastings, Esq., Delivered before the High Court of Parliament, June 1788”, in Select Speeches, Forensick and Parliamentary, with Prefatory Remarks by N[athaniel] Chapman, M.D., volume I, [Philadelphia, Pa.]: Published by Hopkins and Earle, no. 170, Market Street, published 1808, →OCLC, page 474Again and again she recurred to the scene of his execution, whose horror was heightened by the familiar circumstances with which it was attended. The customary scaffold has its own awe—justice and obedience and usage surround the place; but to die a violent death, and by the hand of man, amid life's daily scenes, all associations so domestic and so ordinary, aggravates the ghastly spectacle, and makes the doom seem at once cruel and undeserved.
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 85 - An elevated platform on which dead bodies are ritually disposed of, as by some Native American tribes.
- artsAn accumulation of adherent, partly fused material forming a shelf or dome-shaped obstruction above the tuyeres in a blast furnace.
- sciencesA structure that provides support for some other material.
2 more examples
[T]he inventors of the present invention have found that the above-described recombinant gelatin contained in the scaffold for vascular endothelial cell migration according to the present invention markedly promotes migration of vascular endothelial cells. Therefore, use of the scaffold for vascular endothelial cell migration according to the present invention makes it possible to ensure that vascular endothelial cells migrate to a predetermined site to newly form blood vessels.
2011 September 29, Reiko Iwazawa, Kentaro Nakamura, Scaffold for Vascular Endothelial Cell Migration, US Patent US 20130084638 A1[…] Munoz et al. first proposed the following scaffold filling problem (on multichromosomal genomes with no gene repetition) as follows[…]. Given a complete (permutation) genome R and an incomplete scaffold S, fill the missing genes in R – S into S to have S′ such that the genomic distance […] between R and S′ is minimized. It was shown that this problem can be solved in polynomial time.
2016, Binhai Zhu, “Genomic Scaffold Filling: A Progress Report”, in Daming Zhu, Sergey Bereg, editors, Frontiers in Algorithmics: 10th International Workshop, FAW 2016, Qingdao, China, June 30 – July 2, 2016, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; 9711), [Cham, Switzerland]: Springer International Publishing, →DOI, →ISBN, page 8 - A device in scaffolding, i.e. the provision of a framework or support for achieving an intended outcome of internalizing learnings by way of collaboration and later gradual withdrawal of support.
present singular third person scaffolds · participle present scaffolding · participle past scaffolded · past scaffolded
- transitiveTo set up a scaffolding; to surround a building with scaffolding.
- transitiveTo sustain; to provide support for.
- transitiveTo dispose of the bodies of the dead on a scaffold or raised platform, as by some Native American tribes.
- transitiveTo provide a framework or support for achieving an intended outcome of internalizing learnings by way of collaboration and later gradual withdrawal of support.First known use since Jerome Bruner (1975), “The Ontogenesis of Speech Acts”, in Journal of Child Language, volume 2, →DOI, pages 1 seqq.
Origin
- Latin-falicum
- Ancient Greekκατα-“back; against”
- Vulgar Latin*catafalcum“viewing stage”
- Latinex-“out, away”
- Old Frenches-
- Anglo-Normanschaffaut
- Middle Englishscaffold
- Englishscaffold
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”)).
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek πῆγμα
- πῆγμα (pêgma)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
Arabic سِقَالَة, إِسْقَالَة
- سِقَالَة (siqāla)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- إِسْقَالَة (ʔisqāla)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
Bulgarian ске́ле, ешафо́д
- ске́ле (skéle)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- ешафо́д (ešafód)platform for executions
Catalan bastida
- bastidastructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
Chinese Mandarin 腳手架 /脚手架, 絞刑台
- 腳手架 /脚手架 (jiǎoshǒujià)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- 絞刑台platform for executions
- 絞刑臺 /绞刑台 (jiǎoxíngtái)platform for executions
Czech lešení, šibenice
- lešenístructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- šibeniceplatform for executions
Danish stillads, skafot
- stilladsstructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- skafotplatform for executions
Dutch stelling, schavot
- stellingstructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- schavotplatform for executions
- een stelling bouwenset up scaffolding
Esperanto eŝafodo
- eŝafodoplatform for executions
Finnish telineet, mestauslava
- telineetstructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- mestauslavaplatform for executions
French échafaudage, échafaud
- échafaudagestructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- échafaudstructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- échafaudplatform for executions
- échafauderset up scaffolding
German Gerüst, Baugerüst
- Gerüststructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- Baugerüststructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- Schafottplatform for executions
- einrüstenset up scaffolding
Greek σκαλωσιά, ικρίωμα
- σκαλωσιά (skalosiá)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- ικρίωμα (ikríoma)platform for executions
Hungarian állványzat
- állványzatstructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
Icelandic vinnupallur, stillans
- vinnupallurstructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- stillansstructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- reisipallurstructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
Indonesian perancah
- perancahstructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
Irish scafall, croch
- scafallstructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- crochplatform for executions
Italian impalcatura, ponteggio
- impalcaturastructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- ponteggiostructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- patiboloplatform for executions
Japanese 足場, 絞首台
- 足場 (ashiba)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- 絞首台 (kōshudai)platform for executions
- 処刑台 (shokeidai)platform for executions
Korean 비계, 교수대
- 비계 (bigye)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- 교수대 (gyosudae)platform for executions
- 처형대 (cheohyeongdae)platform for executions
Latin pegma
- pegmastructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
Māori rangitupu, pouwhata
- rangitupustructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- pouwhatastructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
Norwegian Bokmål stillas, skafott
- stillasstructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- skafottplatform for executions
Persian داربست
- داربست (dârbast)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
Polish rusztowanie, szafot
- rusztowaniestructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- szafotplatform for executions
- rusztowaćset up scaffolding
Portuguese andaime, cadafalso
- andaimestructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- cadafalsoplatform for executions
Romanian schelărie, eșafod
- schelăriestructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- eșafodplatform for executions
Russian леса́, подмо́стки
- леса́ (lesá)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- подмо́стки (podmóstki)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- эшафо́т (ešafót)platform for executions
- пла́ха (pláxa)platform for executions
Slovak lešenie, popravisko
- lešeniestructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- popraviskoplatform for executions
Spanish andamio, andamiaje
- andamiostructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- andamiajestructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- andamiadastructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- horcaplatform for executions
- patíbuloplatform for executions
- cadalsoplatform for executions
- cadahalsoplatform for executions
- forcaplatform for executions
- andamiarset up scaffolding
Swedish byggnadsställning, schavott
- byggnadsställningstructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- schavottplatform for executions
Tagalog palapala
- palapalastructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
Thai นั่งร้าน, ตะแลงแกง
- นั่งร้าน (nâng-ráan)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- ตะแลงแกง (dtà-lɛɛng-gɛɛng)platform for executions
Turkish iskele, darağacı
- iskelestructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- darağacıplatform for executions
- idam sehpasıplatform for executions
- yağlı ilmekplatform for executions
- yağlı ipplatform for executions
- yağlı urganplatform for executions
Ukrainian риштува́ння, ешафо́т
- риштува́ння (ryštuvánnja)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- ешафо́т (ešafót)platform for executions
- пла́ха (pláxa)platform for executions
Welsh sgaffald, crocbren
- sgaffaldstructure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
- crocbrenplatform for executions
Yiddish רישטעוואַניע
- רישטעוואַניע (rishtevanye)structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on
Cite this entry
scaffold. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scaffold
“scaffold.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scaffold. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scaffold,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scaffold.
Source: scaffold on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.