Word.ws English Dictionary

scaffold

Syllables: scaf·foldUK/ˈskæf.əld/US/ˈskæf.əld/

scaffold noun: a structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on while working on a building.

scaffold: a structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on while working on a building
Image: Entheta, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

scaffold (plural scaffolds)

  1. 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 26
    • 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...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...
  2. An elevated platform on which a criminal is executed.
    • 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...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...
    • Again 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...1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 85
  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.
    • [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...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 […]...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...
  6. 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.

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To set up a scaffolding; to surround a building with scaffolding.
  2. (transitive) To sustain; to provide support for.
  3. (transitive) To dispose of the bodies of the dead on a scaffold or raised platform, as by some Native American tribes.
  4. (transitive) To provide a framework or support for achieving an intended outcome of internalizing learnings by way of collaboration and later gradual withdrawal of support.

scaffold meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Kannada

scaffold in Tamil

சாரம்

scaffold in Urdu

سکافولڈ

scaffold in Bengali

scaffold
মাচা maca, মাচান macan

scaffold in Kannada

ಗಲ್ಲು ಜಗಲಿ, ಗಲ್ಲು ವೇದಿಕೆ, ಗಲ್ಲು ಅಟ್ಟ, ಅಟ್ಟಣೆ, ವಧಾಸ್ಥಾನ
More languagesFewer languages
scaffold in Punjabi
ਸਕੈਫੋਲਡ
scaffold in Gujarati
સ્કેફોલ્ડ, સ્કાફોલ્ડ, સ્કાફફોલ્ડ
scaffold in Odia
ସ୍କାଫହୋଲ୍ଡ, ସ୍କାଫୋଲ୍ଡ, ସ୍କାଫଲ୍ଡ
scaffold in Nepali
स्क्याफोल्ड, स्काफोल्ड, स्केफोल्ड
scaffold in Tagalog
palapala
scaffold in Arabic
سِقَالَة siqāla, إِسْقَالَة ʔisqāla
scaffold in Indonesian
perancah
scaffold in Persian
داربست dârbast
scaffold in Thai
นั่งร้าน nâng-ráan, ตะแลงแกง dtà-lɛɛng-gɛɛng

Examples of scaffold in a sentence

  • Jobs, such as painting, gutter repair, demolition work or window replacement, are often easier done using a scaffold.2015, Phil Hughes, Ed Ferrett, “Workplace Hazards and Risk Control”, in International Health and Safety at Work: For the NEBOSH...
  • On 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.2023 March 22, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Island Line to reopen to Ryde Pier in June... possibly”, in RAIL, number 979, page 24:
  • […] Munoz et al. first proposed the following scaffold filling problem (on multichromosomal genomes with no gene repetition) as follows[…].2016, Binhai Zhu, “Genomic Scaffold Filling: A Progress Report”, in Daming Zhu, Sergey Bereg, editors, Frontiers in Algorithmics: 10th...

All 30 example sentences with scaffold

Forms of scaffold

Noun
pluralscaffolds
Verb
third-person singular presentscaffolds
present participlescaffolding
past participlescaffolded
pastscaffolded

Plural of scaffold: scaffolds

Origin of scaffold

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”)).

Words formed from scaffold

Phrases with scaffold

Questions about scaffold

What does scaffold mean?
Scaffold means a structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on while working on a building.
What is scaffold in Tamil?
Scaffold in Tamil is சாரம். See Scaffold meaning in Tamil.
How do you use scaffold in a sentence?
Jobs, such as painting, gutter repair, demolition work or window replacement, are often easier done using a scaffold.
What part of speech is scaffold?
Scaffold can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce scaffold?
Scaffold is pronounced /ˈskæf.əld/ (UK).
What is the plural of scaffold?
The plural of scaffold is scaffolds.

Words near scaffold in the dictionary

  1. Scaffidi
  2. Scaffidis
  3. scaffie
  4. scaffies
  5. scaffling
  6. scaffold
  7. scaffold hopping
  8. scaffold protein
  9. scaffold proteins
  10. scaffoldage
  11. scaffolded

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scaffold (page history and authors); scaffold (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); scaffold (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); মাচা (Bengali) (page history and authors); scaffold (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); scaffold (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scaffold (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scaffold (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scaffold (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-scaffold.ogg.

Cite this entry: “scaffold.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scaffold. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.