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Webster 1913 Edition


Board

Board

(bōrd)
,
Noun.
[OE.
bord
, AS.
bord
board, shipboard; akin to
bred
plank, Icel.
borð
board, side of a ship, Goth. fōtu-
baurd
footstool, D.
bord
board, G.
brett
,
bort
. See def. 8. √92.]
1.
A piece of timber sawed thin, and of considerable length and breadth as compared with the thickness, – used for building, etc.
☞ When sawed thick, as over one and a half or two inches, it is usually called a plank.
2.
A table to put food upon.
☞ The term board answers to the modern table, but it was often movable, and placed on trestles.
Halliwell.
Fruit of all kinds . . .
She gathers, tribute large, and on the
board

Heaps with unsparing hand.
Milton.
3.
Hence: What is served on a table as food; stated meals; provision; entertainment; – usually as furnished for pay;
as, to work for one’s
board
; the price of
board
.
4.
A table at which a council or court is held.
Hence:
A council, convened for business, or any authorized assembly or meeting, public or private; a number of persons appointed or elected to sit in council for the management or direction of some public or private business or trust;
as, the
Board
of Admiralty; a
board
of trade; a
board
of directors, trustees, commissioners, etc.
Both better acquainted with affairs than any other who sat then at that
board
.
Clarendon.
We may judge from their letters to the
board
.
Porteus.
5.
A square or oblong piece of thin wood or other material used for some special purpose,
as, a molding
board
; a board or surface painted or arranged for a game;
as, a chess
board
; a backgammon
board
.
6.
Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard;
as, to bind a book in
boards
.
7.
pl.
The stage in a theater;
as, to go upon the
boards
, to enter upon the theatrical profession
.
8.
[In this use originally perh. a different word meaning
border
,
margin
; cf. D.
boord
, G.
bord
, shipboard, and G.
borte
trimming; also F.
bord
(fr. G.) the side of a ship. Cf.
Border
.]
The border or side of anything.
(Naut.)
(a)
The side of a ship.
“Now board to board the rival vessels row.”
Dryden.
See
On board
, below.
(b)
The stretch which a ship makes in one tack.
Board
is much used adjectively or as the last part of a compound; as, fir
board
, clap
board
, floor
board
, ship
board
, side
board
, ironing
board
, chess
board
, card
board
, paste
board
, sea
board
;
board
measure.
The American Board
,
a shortened form of “The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions” (the foreign missionary society of the American Congregational churches).
Bed and board
.
See under
Bed
.
Board and board
(Naut.)
,
side by side.
Board of control
,
six privy councilors formerly appointed to superintend the affairs of the British East Indies.
Stormonth.
Board rule
,
a figured scale for finding without calculation the number of square feet in a board.
Haldeman.
Board of trade
,
in England, a committee of the privy council appointed to superintend matters relating to trade. In the United States, a body of men appointed for the advancement and protection of their business interests; a chamber of commerce.
Board wages
.
(a)
Food and lodging supplied as compensation for services; as, to work hard, and get only board wages.
(b)
Money wages which are barely sufficient to buy food and lodging.
(c)
A separate or special allowance of wages for the procurement of food, or food and lodging.
Dryden.
By the board
,
over the board, or side.
“The mast went by the board.”
Totten.
Hence (Fig.),
To go by the board
,
to suffer complete destruction or overthrow.
To enter on the boards
,
to have one's name inscribed on a board or tablet in a college as a student.
[Cambridge, England.]
“Having been entered on the boards of Trinity college.”
Hallam.
To make a good board
(Naut.)
,
to sail in a straight line when close-hauled; to lose little to leeward.
To make short boards
,
to tack frequently.
On board
.
(a)
On shipboard; in a ship or a boat; on board of; as, I came on board early; to be on board ship.
(b)
In or into a railway car or train.
[Colloq. U. S.]
Returning board
,
a board empowered to canvass and make an official statement of the votes cast at an election.
[U.S.]

Board

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Boarded
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Boarding
.]
1.
To cover with boards or boarding;
as, to
board
a house
.
“The boarded hovel.”
Cowper.
2.
[Cf.
Board
to accost, and see
Board
,
Noun.
]
To go on board of, or enter, as a ship, whether in a hostile or a friendly way.
You
board
an enemy to capture her, and a stranger to receive news or make a communication.
Totten.
3.
To enter, as a railway car.
[Colloq. U. S.]
4.
To furnish with regular meals, or with meals and lodgings, for compensation; to supply with daily meals.
5.
To place at board, for compensation;
as, to
board
one's horse at a livery stable
.

Board

(bōrd)
,
Verb.
I.
To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation;
as, he
boards
at the hotel
.
We are several of us, gentlemen and ladies, who
board
in the same house.
Spectator.

Board

,
Verb.
T.
[F.
aborder
. See
Abord
,
Verb.
T.
]
To approach; to accost; to address; hence, to woo.
[Obs.]
I will
board
her, though she chide as loud
As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition


Board

BOARD

,
Noun.
1.
A piece of timber sawed thin and of considerable length and breadth, compared with the thickness, used for building and other purposes.
2.
A table. The table of our rude ancestors was a piece of board, perhaps originally laid upon the knees. 'Lauti cibum capiunt; separata singulis sedes, et sua cuique mensa.'
3.
Entertainment; food; diet; as, the price of board is two, five, or seven dollars a week.
4.
A table at which a council or court is held; hence a council, convened for business, or any authorized assembly or meeting; as a board of directors.
5.
The desk of a ship; the interior part of a ship or boat; used in the phrase, on board, aboard. In this phrase however the sense is primarily the side of the ship. To go aboard is to go over the side.
6.
The side of a ship.
Now board to board, the rival vessels row.
To fall over board, that is, over the side; the mast went by the board.
Board and board, side by side.
7.
The line over which a ship runs between tack and tack. To make a good board, is to sail in a straight line, when close hauled.
To make short boards, is to tack frequently.
8.
A table for artificers to sit or work on.
9.
A table or frame for a game; as a chess board, &c.
10. A body of men constituting a quorum in session; a court, or council; as a board of trustees; a board of officers.

BOARD

,
Verb.
T.
To lay or spread with boards; to cover with boards.
1.
To enter a ship by force in combat, which answers to storming a city or fort on land.
2.
To attack; to make the first attempt upon a man. In Spenser, to accost.
3.
To place at board, for a compensation, as a lodger.
4.
To furnish with food, or food and lodging, for a compensation; as, a man boards ten students.

BOARD

,
Verb.
I.
To receive food or diet as a lodger or without lodgings, for a compensation; as,he boards at the moderate price of two dollars a week.

Definition 2024


board

board

English

Noun

board (plural boards)

  1. A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:
      Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
  2. A device (e.g., switchboard) containing electrical switches and other controls and designed to control lights, sound, telephone connections, etc.
  3. A flat surface with markings for playing a board game.
    Each player starts the game with four counters on the board.
  4. Short for blackboard, whiteboard, chessboard, surfboard, message board (on the Internet), etc.
  5. A committee that manages the business of an organization, e.g., a board of directors.
    We have to wait to hear back from the board.
  6. (uncountable) Regular meals or the amount paid for them in a place of lodging.
    Room and board
  7. (nautical) The side of a ship.
    • Dryden
      Now board to board the rival vessels row.
  8. (nautical) The distance a sailing vessel runs between tacks when working to windward.
  9. (ice hockey) The wall that surrounds an ice hockey rink, often in plural.
  10. (archaic) A long, narrow table, like that used in a medieval dining hall.
    • Milton
      Fruit of all kinds [] / She gathers, tribute large, and on the board / Heaps with unsparing hand.
  11. Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard.
    to bind a book in boards
  12. (video games) A level or stage having a particular layout.
    • 2004, Dan Whitehead, Martyn Carroll, Shaun Bebbington, Future Shocks (in Your Sinclair issue 94)
      The object of the game is to move the smiley face over the preset board, in doing so removing the green squares and ending up at the exit []
    • 2015, Hiddenstuff Entertainment, Candy Crush Soda Saga Game Guide (page 23)
      You are able to then change a color candy with any candy around the board, similar to the way you are able to with color bomb candies.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
See also

Verb

board (third-person singular simple present boards, present participle boarding, simple past and past participle boarded)

  1. (transitive) To step or climb onto or otherwise enter a ship, aircraft, train or other conveyance.
    It is time to board the aircraft.
    • Totten
      You board an enemy to capture her, and a stranger to receive news or make a communication.
  2. (transitive) To provide someone with meals and lodging, usually in exchange for money.
    to board one's horse at a livery stable
  3. (transitive) To receive meals and lodging in exchange for money.
    • Spectator
      We [] board in the same house.
  4. (transitive, nautical) To capture an enemy ship by going alongside and grappling her, then invading her with a boarding party
  5. (intransitive) To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation
  6. (transitive, now rare) To approach (someone); to make advances to, accost.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.iv:
      Ere long with like againe he boorded mee, / Saying, he now had boulted all the floure []
  7. To cover with boards or boarding.
    to board a house
    • Cowper
      the boarded hovel
  8. To hit (someone) with a wooden board.
  9. (transitive) To write something on a board, especially a blackboard or whiteboard.
Translations

Etymology 2

From backboard

Noun

board (plural boards)

  1. (basketball, informal) A rebound.
Translations

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: opposite · vast · isn't · #974: board · associated · worse · safe

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