Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Scaffold

Scaffold , noun

[Old French eschafault, eschafaut, escafaut, escadafaut, French échafaud; probably originally the same word as English & French catafalque, Italian 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. — 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 P. Sidney
3.
(Metallurgy) An accumulation of adherent, partly fused material forming a shelf, or dome-shaped obstruction, above the tuyères in a blast furnace.

Scaffold , transitive verb

To furnish or uphold with a scaffold.