Etimology
From Middle English bord, from Old English bord, from Proto-West Germanic *bord, from Proto-Germanic *burdą (“board; plank; table”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerdʰ- (“to cut”). The senses "food" and "council" are by metonymy from the sense "table."
noun
board (countable and uncountable, plural boards)
A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making.
A device (e.g., switchboard) containing electrical switches and other controls and designed to control lights, sound, telephone connections, etc.
A flat surface with markings for playing a board game.
Short for blackboard, whiteboard, chessboard, surfboard, circuit board, message board (on the Internet), etc.
A committee that manages the business of an organization, e.g., a board of directors.
(uncountable) Regular meals or the amount paid for them in a place of lodging.
(nautical) The side of a ship.
(nautical) The distance a sailing vessel runs between tacks when working to windward.
(ice hockey, often in the plural) The wall that surrounds an ice hockey rink.
(archaic) A long, narrow table, like that used in a medieval dining hall.
Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard.
(video games) A level or stage having a particular two-dimensional layout.
(TCGs) The portion of the playing field where creatures or minions can be placed (or played, summoned, etc.).
(bridge) A container for holding pre-dealt cards that is used to allow multiple sets of players to play the same cards. Board (duplicate bridge)
(computing, Internet) Short for message board.
(computing, Internet) Short for bulletin board.
(Philippines, local government) A provincial assembly or council.
Examples
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.
Each player starts the game with four counters on the board.
We have to wait to hear back from the board.
Room and board
Now board to board the rival vessels row.
Fruit of all kinds […] / She gathers, tribute large, and on the board / Heaps with unsparing hand.
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.
to bind a book in boards
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 […]
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.
Related words
hyponyms
baseboard
blackboard
bodyboard, body board
boogie board
bulletin board
centreboard, centerboard
chalkboard
checkerboard
chessboard
chipboard
circuit board
clapboard
clapperboard
corkboard
dartboard
dashboard
destination board
drawing board
duckboard
emery board
floorboard, floor board
gas board
ironing board
keyboard
outboard
particle board
plasterboard
poster board
protoboard
rubboard
sandwich board
scrub board
skateboard
skirting board
snowboard
sounding board
spine board
surfboard
thumbboard
water board
weatherboard
whiteboard
verb
board (third-person singular simple present boards, present participle boarding, simple past and past participle boarded)
(transitive) To step or climb onto or otherwise enter a ship, aircraft, train or other conveyance.
(transitive) To provide someone with meals and lodging, usually in exchange for money.
(transitive) To receive meals and lodging in exchange for money.
(transitive, nautical) To (at least attempt to) capture an enemy ship by going alongside and grappling her, then invading her with a boarding party.
(intransitive) To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation
(transitive, now rare) To approach (someone); to make advances to, accost.
To cover with boards or boarding.
To hit (someone) with a wooden board.
(transitive) To write something on a board, especially a blackboard or whiteboard.
Examples
It is time to board the aircraft.
You board an enemy to capture her, and a stranger to receive news or make a communication.
I have just enough time for a "swifty" in the reopened '301' bar on Platform 4 before boarding a two-car Northern Class 158 working the 1824 to Leeds.
Antonyms: alight, disembark
to board one's horse at a livery stable
We are several of us, gentlemen and ladies, who board in the same house,
Ere long with like againe he boorded mee, / Saying, he now had boulted all the floure […]
to board a house
the boarded hovel
Etimology
From backboard.
noun
board (plural boards)
(basketball, informal) A rebound.