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Webster 1913 Edition


Abord


A-bord′

,
Noun.
[F.]
Manner of approaching or accosting; address.
Chesterfield.

A-bord′

,
Verb.
T.
[F.
aborder
,
(L.
ad
) +
bord
rim, brim, or side of a vessel. See
Border
,
Board
.]
To approach; to accost.
[Obs.]
Digby.

Webster 1828 Edition


Abord

ABO'RD

,
Noun.
[Fr. See Border.] Literally, arrival, but used for first appearance, manner of accosting, or address, but not an English word.

ABO'RD

,
Verb.
T.
To accost. [Not in use.]

Definition 2024


abord

abord

See also: à bord

English

Noun

abord (plural abords)

  1. (archaic) Manner or way of approaching or accosting; address. [since the early 1600s]
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Chesterfield to this entry?)

Verb

abord (third-person singular simple present abords, present participle abording, simple past and past participle aborded)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To approach. [attested from around 1400 until the late 1600s]
  2. (transitive, rare) To accost. [since the early 1600s]
    • 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, hardback edition, Duckworth, page 82:
      Mrs Hurstpierpoint aborded her with a smile.

References

  1. Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], ISBN 0-87779-101-5), page 6

Anagrams


French

Etymology

From Middle French, from aborder, from Old French aborder (to hit a ship in order to board it), from bord (side of a ship, edge), from Frankish *bord (side of a ship or vessel), from Proto-Germanic *burdą (edge, border, side), from Proto-Indo-European *bheredh- (to cut). Cognate with Old High German bort (edge, rim, rand), Old English bord (ship, side of a ship), Old Norse borð (edge, side of a vessel). More at board.

Pronunciation

Noun

abord m (plural abords)

  1. (literary) The manner with which one acts in the presence of another person or persons, especially in a first encounter.
  2. (rare) The surroundings of a place.
  3. (archaic) Arrival or accessibility by water.

Usage notes

  • In the sense "surroundings", the word is almost always a pluralia tantum.
  • The sense "manner of acting" is usually now perceived as a backformation from aborder (to approach), and is most common in the expression être d'un abord and variations of it.

Derived terms

Related terms

Anagrams


Middle English

Etymology

From Old French a + bord (exterior of a ship)

Adverb

abord

  1. On board; into or within a ship or boat
  2. (nautical) Alongside.

Preposition

abord

  1. On board of; onto or into a ship, boat, train, plane.