The American Board
(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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