GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Found 4 definitions

      
Board (bōrd), n. [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.

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☞ When sawed thick, as over one and a half or two inches, it is usually called a plank.

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2. A table to put food upon.

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☞ The term board answers to the modern table, but it was often movable, and placed on trestles.  Halliwell.

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Fruit of all kinds . . .

She gathers, tribute large, and on the board

Heaps with unsparing hand. Milton.

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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”.

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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.”

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Both better acquainted with affairs than any other who sat then at that board. Clarendon.

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We may judge from their letters to the board. Porteus.

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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 chessboard; a backgammon board”.

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6. Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard; as, “to bind a book in boards”.

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7. pl. The stage in a theater; as, “to go upon the boards, to enter upon the theatrical profession”.

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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.

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☞ Board is much used adjectively or as the last part of a compound; as, fir board, clapboard, floor board, shipboard, sideboard, ironing board, chessboard, cardboard, pasteboard, seaboard; board measure.

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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.]

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Board, v. 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.

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2. [Cf. Board to accost, and see Board, n.] To go on board of, or enter, as a ship, whether in a hostile or a friendly way.

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You board an enemy to capture her, and a stranger to receive news or make a communication. Totten.

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3. To enter, as a railway car. [Colloq. U. S.]

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4. To furnish with regular meals, or with meals and lodgings, for compensation; to supply with daily meals.

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5. To place at board, for compensation; as, “to board one's horse at a livery stable”.

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Board (bōrd), v. i. To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation; as, “he boards at the hotel”.

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We are several of us, gentlemen and ladies, who board in the same house. Spectator.

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Board, v. t. [F. aborder. See Abord, v. t.] To approach; to accost; to address; hence, to woo. [Obs.]

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I will board her, though she chide as loud

As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack. Shak.

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