board

views updated May 29 2018

board / bôrd/ • n. 1. a long, thin, flat piece of wood or other hard material, used for floors or other building purposes: loose boards creaked as I walked on them. ∎  (the boards) inf. the stage of a theater.2. a thin, flat, rectangular piece of wood or other stiff material used for various purposes, in particular: ∎  a vertical surface on which to write or pin notices. ∎  a horizontal surface on which to cut things, play games, or perform other activities. ∎  a flat insulating sheet used as a mounting for an electronic circuit: a graphics board. ∎  the piece of equipment on which a person stands in surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and certain other sports. ∎  (boards) the wooden structure surrounding an ice-hockey rink. ∎  (usu. boards) Basketball informal term for backboard, referring specifically to rebounding: the absence of center David Robinson to dominate on the boards.3. [treated as sing. or pl.] a group of people constituted as the decision-making body of an organization: he sits on the board of directors 4. the provision of regular meals when one stays somewhere, in return for payment or services: your room and board will be free.• v. 1. [tr.] get on or into (a ship, aircraft, or other vehicle): we boarded the plane for Oslo [intr.] they would not be able to board without a ticket. ∎  (be boarding) (of an aircraft) be ready for passengers to embark: flight 172 to Istanbul is now boarding at gate 37.2. [intr.] live and receive regular meals in a house in return for payment or services: the cousins boarded for a while with Ruby. ∎  (of a student) live at school during the semester in return for payment. ∎  [tr.] (often be boarded) provide (a person or animal) with regular meals and somewhere to live in return for payment: dogs may have to be boarded at kennels.3. [tr.] (board something up) cover or seal a window, storefront, or other structure with pieces of wood: the shop was still boarded up.PHRASES: go by the board (of something planned or previously upheld) be abandoned, rejected, or ignored: my education just went by the board.on board on or in a ship, aircraft, or other vehicle. ∎ inf. onto a team or group as a member: the need to bring on board a young manager. ∎  inf. (of a jockey) riding. ∎ Baseball on base.ORIGIN: Old English bord, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch boord and German Bort; reinforced in Middle English by Old French bort ‘edge, ship's side’ and Old Norse borth ‘board, table.’

board

views updated May 18 2018

board flat piece of wood; table (now only as used for meals); border, edge (now only in seaboard); ship's side. OE. bord combines two orig. distinct Gmc. words: (i) a str. n. = OS. bord, MHG., G. bort board, ON. borð, Goth. (fōtu)baurd :- Gmc. *borðam; (ii) a str. m. = OS. bord, ON. borð :- Gmc. *borðaz. The OE. words were reinforced in ME. by the uses of F. bord (of Gmc. orig.).
Hence board vb. XV.

Board

views updated May 18 2018

Board

a council convened for business; a number of persons appointed or elected to sit on a committee.

Examples: board of commissioners; of directors, 1712; of governors; of guardians.

board

views updated May 14 2018

board. Thin, long slab of timber no more than 5 cm thick.