board Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a committee having supervisory powers
    • the board has seven members
  2. noun a stout length of sawn timber; made in a wide variety of sizes and used for many purposes
    plank.
  3. noun a flat piece of material designed for a special purpose
    • he nailed boards across the windows
  4. noun food or meals in general
    table.
    • she sets a fine table
    • room and board
  5. noun a vertical surface on which information can be displayed to public view
    display panel; display board.
  6. noun a table at which meals are served
    dining table.
    • he helped her clear the dining table
    • a feast was spread upon the board
  7. noun electrical device consisting of a flat insulated surface that contains switches and dials and meters for controlling other electrical devices
    instrument panel; control panel; panel; control board.
    • he checked the instrument panel
    • suddenly the board lit up like a Christmas tree
  8. noun a printed circuit that can be inserted into expansion slots in a computer to increase the computer's capabilities
    circuit card; add-in; plug-in; circuit board; card.
  9. noun a flat portable surface (usually rectangular) designed for board games
    gameboard.
    • he got out the board and set up the pieces
  10. verb get on board of (trains, buses, ships, aircraft, etc.)
    get on.
  11. verb live and take one's meals at or in
    room.
    • she rooms in an old boarding house
  12. verb lodge and take meals (at)
  13. verb provide food and lodging (for)
    • The old lady is boarding three men

WordNet

Board noun
Etymology
OE. bord, AS. bord board, shipboard; akin to bred plank, Icel. bor board, side of a ship, Goth. ftu-baurd]/> footstool, D. bord board, G. brett, bort. See def. 8.
Definitions
  1. A piece of timber sawed thin, and of considerable length and breadth as compared with the thickness, -- used for building, etc. ✍ When sawed thick, as over one and a half or two inches, it is usually called a plank.
  2. A table to put food upon. ✍ The term board answers to the modern table, but it was often movable, and placed on trestles. Halliwell.
    Fruit of all kinds . . . She gathers, tribute large, and on the board Heaps with unsparing hand. Milton.
  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.
  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.
    Both better acquainted with affairs than any other who sat then at that board. Clarendon.
    We may judge from their letters to the board. Porteus.
  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.
  6. Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard; as, to bind a book in boards.
  7. pl. The stage in a theater; as, to go upon the boards, to enter upon the theatrical profession.
  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. ✍ 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.
Board transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Boarded; present participle & verbal noun Boarding
Definitions
  1. To cover with boards or boarding; as, to board a house. "The boarded hovel." Cowper.
  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.
    You board an enemy to capture her, and a stranger to receive news or make a communication. Totten.
  3. To enter, as a railway car. Colloq. U. S.
  4. To furnish with regular meals, or with meals and lodgings, for compensation; to supply with daily meals.
  5. To place at board, for compensation; as, to board one's horse at a livery stable.
Board intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation; as, he boards at the hotel.
    We are several of us, gentlemen and ladies, who board in the same house. Spectator.
Board transitive verb
Etymology
F. aborder. See Abord, v. t.
Definitions
  1. To approach; to accost; to address; hence, to woo. Obs.
    I will board her, though she chide as loud As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack. Shak.

Webster 1913