Board (duplicate bridge) From Middle English boord, boorde, bord, bourd, burd, from Old English bord, from Proto-West Germanic *bord, from Proto-Germanic *burdą (“board, plank; edge; table”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰers- (“tip, top”) + *-dʰeti or *bʰerH- (“to pierce; to strike”) + *-dʰeti. The senses "food" and "council" are by metonymy from the sense "table". Cognates Cognate with Scots buird (“board; table”), Yola borde (“table”), West Frisian boerd (“board”), Dutch bord (“dish, plate; board, plank; sign”), boord (“border, boundary; bank, shore”), German Bord (“shelf”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish bord (“plank; table”), Elfdalian buord (“table”), Faroese and Icelandic borð (“board, plank; table”), Gothic *𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (*baurd, “board, plank”) (whence 𐍆𐍉𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (fōtubaurd, “footstool”).
A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making.
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.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
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A device (e.g., switchboard) containing electrical switches and other controls and designed to control lights, sound, telephone connections, etc.
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A flat surface with markings for playing a board game.
Each player starts the game with four counters on the board.
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Abbreviation Short for blackboard, whiteboard, chessboard, surfboard, circuit board, message board (on the Internet), bulletin board, etc.
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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.
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Regular meals in a place of lodging; the price paid for them.
board and lodging
room and board
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His board was served by his landlady, the owner of the boarding house. [meals]
His board seemed a bit steep, but he accepted it because the house was clean and his fellow lodgers were respectful neighbors. [price for meals]
Now board to board the rival vessels row.1697, Virgil, “The Fifth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
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Nautical, Transport The distance a sailing vessel runs between tacks when working to windward.
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Hobbies, Ice hockey, Lifestyle, Skating, SportsIn plural, Often The wall that surrounds an ice hockey rink.
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Archaic A long, narrow table, like that used in a medieval dining hall.
Fruit of all kinds […] / She gathers, tribute large, and on the board / Heaps with unsparing hand.1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
1890, Algernon Blackwood, Christmas in England, Methodist Magazine Volume 32 pg 481. The real beginning of the festivities is on Christmas-eve, when the large parties meet their friends from far and near round the festive board.
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"A man," added Cripps, pointing at the MacQuibble, who took no manner of notice, but smoked impassively, "who comes to my hospitable board meanly disguised as an artist, and filches the table wine."1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 17:
“Take your seat at my board, and let me drink to your health.”1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 26:
Túrin took a seat without heed, for he was wayworn, and filled with thought; and by ill-luck he set himself at a board among the elders of the realm, and in that place where Saeros was accustomed to sit.2007, J. R. R. Tolkien edited by Christopher Tolkien, The Children of Húrin:
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Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard.
to bind a book in boards
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Video games A level or stage having a particular two-dimensional layout.
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 […]2004, Dan Whitehead, Martyn Carroll, Shaun Bebbington, “Future Shocks”, in Your Sinclair, number 94:
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.2015, Hiddenstuff Entertainment, Candy Crush Soda Saga Game Guide, page 23:
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The portion of the playing field where creatures or minions can be placed (or played, summoned, etc.).
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Bridge, Games A container for holding pre-dealt cards that is used to allow multiple sets of players to play the same cards.
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A Philippine provincial or Uruguayan departmental assembly or council.
Board (duplicate bridge) From Middle English boord, boorde, bord, bourd, burd, from Old English bord, from Proto-West Germanic *bord, from Proto-Germanic *burdą (“board, plank; edge; table”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰers- (“tip, top”) + *-dʰeti or *bʰerH- (“to pierce; to strike”) + *-dʰeti. The senses "food" and "council" are by metonymy from the sense "table". Cognates Cognate with Scots buird (“board; table”), Yola borde (“table”), West Frisian boerd (“board”), Dutch bord (“dish, plate; board, plank; sign”), boord (“border, boundary; bank, shore”), German Bord (“shelf”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish bord (“plank; table”), Elfdalian buord (“table”), Faroese and Icelandic borð (“board, plank; table”), Gothic *𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (*baurd, “board, plank”) (whence 𐍆𐍉𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (fōtubaurd, “footstool”).
To step or climb onto or otherwise enter a ship, aircraft, train or other conveyance.
It is time to board the aircraft.
You board an enemy to capture her, and a stranger to receive news or make a communication.1862, Benjamin J. Totten, Naval Text-Book, and Dictionary, for the use of the Midshipmen of the U.S. Navy:
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Yuan-chu-min history, that of the island’s southern Min speaking Han Chinese, is in evidence farther east, in Nan-t'ou county. After reaching the heart of Nan-t'ou' city, the county’s center of government and also home to Taiwan’s provincial government, one can board a bus to ascend the mountains that dominate much of the central and eastern landscape of the island.1999, Murray A. Rubinstein, editor, Taiwan: A New History, M.E. Sharpe, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page ix:
I have just enough time for a "swifty" in the reopened (but on this day just about to close) '301' bar on Platform 4 before boarding a two-car Northern Class 158 working the 1824 to Leeds.2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 57:
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To provide someone with meals and lodging, usually in exchange for money.
to board one’s horse at a livery stable
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To receive meals and lodging in exchange for money.
We are several of us, gentlemen and ladies, who board in the same house,February 8, 1712, Charity Frost, The Spectator No. 296 (letter to the editor)
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Nautical, Transport To (at least attempt to) capture an enemy ship by going alongside and grappling her, then invading her with a boarding party.
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To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation
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Archaic To approach (someone); to make advances to, accost.
Ere long with like againe he boorded mee, / Saying, he now had boulted all the floure […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
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To cover with boards or boarding.
to board a house
the boarded hovel1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC:
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To hit (someone) with a wooden board.
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To write something on a board, especially a blackboard or whiteboard.