See Also: Big Board(money)
Big Board(finance)
above-board(dictionary)
board(1)(dictionary)
Across the board(finance)
board(2)(dictionary)
On board(money)
over-the-board(dictionary)
Off-board(money)
tea-board(dictionary)

board(1) (iou)



board noun. See also BORD.
[Old English bord, combining two Germanic words with meanings 'board, plank' and 'border, ship's side': reinforced in Middle English by cognate Old French bort, French bord, edge, rim, ship's side, and Old Norse bore board, table.]
I. A piece of wood etc.
A long thin usu. narrow piece of sawn timber, a thin plank, often spec. as used for floors or other purposes in building; such timber collectively. OE.
floorboard, skirting board, tread board, etc.
Southey They carried her upon a board In the clothes in which she died. Tennyson Pattering over the boards, she comes and goes at her will. J. Steinbeck Grass grew up through the porch boards. W. van T. Clark The buildings were log or unpainted board.
A thin rigid usu. rectangular piece of any substance, used esp. for display or support; spec. a blackboard; a notice-board; a scoreboard. Also, a surface or structure likened to this. ME.
billboard, blackboard, circuit board, clapperboard, dashboard, diving-board, drawing-board, emery-board, finger-board, footboard, headboard, ironing-board, keyboard, mortar-board, notice-board, pegboard, running-board, sandwich-board, scoreboard, skateboard, soundboard, splash-board, springboard, surfboard, switchboard, weatherboard, etc.
Times They had 84 on the board for eight wickets. A. Brink When I come into my classroom, I find insults scrawled all over the board.
b. spec. The surface or frame on which some games are played, as chess, backgammon, Monopoly, etc. Also, the target in darts. LME.
chessboard, dartboard, draughtboard, shovelboard, etc.
C. S. Lewis All over the board my pieces were in the most disadvantageous positions.
c. A surfboard. L18.
In pl. Rectangular pieces of strong card etc. used for the cover of a hardback book. L15.
Material of various kinds, esp. compressed wood fibres, made into stiff sheets. M17.
cardboard, chipboard, hardboard, pasteboard, strawboard, etc.
II. A table.
gen. A table. obsolete exc. as below. OE.
stall-board. ABOVE-BOARD.
b. A piece of furniture like a table. Now chiefly in sideboard. LME.
A table used for meals or spread for a meal. ME.
G. M. Trevelyan The labourer..ate at the board of the farmer.
b. Food served at a table; the provision of daily meals (and often also lodging), esp. at an agreed price or in return for services. ME.
J. Heath-Stubbs He'd be glad of a share of your board, Or a place by the fire. J. C. Oates To work at the castle for no salary, only for room and board?
c. The condition of boarding at a house etc. LME.
J. Cleveland An expensive Lord, That..lives at board.
A table at which meetings are held; the meeting of a council etc. round a table; a committee, a body of examiners, interviewers, etc.; spec. the body of directors of a company. M16.
Board of Customs and Excise, Board of Inland Revenue, Federal Reserve Board, medical board, etc.
Ld Macaulay How little he was pleased with what had passed at the board. A. J. P. Taylor The poor law was administered by local boards of guardians. H. Fast The second vice president of the Seldon Bank..delivered the formal sentiments of the board.
III.
A shield. OE-M16.
IV. A side, an edge.
A border, an edge; a coast. Long obsolete exc. in SEABOARD. OE.
The side of a ship. Now only in distinct phrases and combs. (often used in non-nautical contexts). OE.
larboard, overboard, starboard, etc.
Nautical. A distance covered in one tack. M16.
Capt. Cook We passed the night in making short boards.
Mining. = BORD. E18.
Phrases: across the board all-embracing(ly), general(ly). bed and board: see BED noun. board and board (a) (of ships) close alongside, side by side; (b) (sailing) by a succession of short tacks. board and lodging provision of accommodation and meals. board of control a supervisory body; spec. (Hist.) a board of six members established by Pitt in 1784 to govern British India. board of trade (a) US a Chamber of Commerce; (b) (Board of Trade) a (now nominal) British government department concerned with commerce and industry (Board of Trade Unit (Hist.), a kilowatt-hour). full board: see FULL adjective. go by the board (of a mast etc.) fall overboard; fig. be entirely neglected, go for good and all. half-board: see HALF-. on board = ABOARD adverb & preposition. red board: see RED adjective. sweep the board: see SWEEP verb. take on board fig. (a) drink, consume, swallow; (b) accept (an idea etc.), come to terms with. the board Austral. & NZ the part of the floor of a shearing-shed where the shearers work, the shearers working there. the boards spec. those forming the stage of a theatre or music hall; fig. the actor's profession. tread the boards: see TREAD verb. within board, without board Nautical within, outside of, the ship.
Comb.: board foot a unit of volume (for timber) equal to 144 cu. in.; board game a game played on a special board; boardroom (the meeting place of) the directors of a company; boardsailing windsurfing; board school Hist. an elementary school under the management of a School Board, established in Britain by the Education Act of 1870; board-wages arch. wages allowed to servants for food; boardwalk (chiefly N. Amer.) a footway (of a type originally) made of boards; board-work wig-making.