-diŋ, -dēŋ noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from scaffold (I) + -ing
1.
a. : a system of scaffolds
go up ladders and walk about scaffoldings — J.D.Beresford
erected the steel scaffolding to support the roof forms — Civil Engineering
b. : materials for scaffolds
2.
[from gerund of scaffold (II) ]
a. : the construction of scaffolds
b.
(1) : the formation of a scaffold in the smelting of ores
(2) : scaffold 2
3.
a. : a framework serving as a supporting structure, base, or outline for something (as a literary work or a part of an organism)
use of the epic as a scaffolding for his stories — Robert Halsband
comprehending the naked scaffolding of an idea rather than its architectural fulfillment — H.V.Gregory
cartilaginous skeleton serves as a temporary scaffolding for a skeleton of much harder material — Norbert Wiener
b. : evidence or explanatory matter tending to confirm, validate, or bolster something (as an argument)
book … a little overequipped with the scaffolding of research — H.J.Laski