From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Board \Board\ (b[=o]rd), n. [OE. bord, AS. bord board,
shipboard; akin to bred plank, Icel. bor[eth] board, side of
a ship, Goth. f[=o]tu-baurd footstool, D. bord board, G.
brett, bort. See def. 8. [root]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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Note: 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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Note: 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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Note: 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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