board--prophetes.ai

▪ I. board, n.
    (bɔəd)
    Forms: 1–7 bord, (4–6 borde), 4–7 boord, (5–6 boorde, bourde, 6–7 bourd, 6 boarde), 6– board; north. 4–8 burd, 4–7 burde, 4 Sc. buird, 6– Sc. brod: cf. bred.
    [A word or agglomeration of words of complicated history, representing two originally distinct ns., already blended in OE., and subsequently reinforced in ME. by French uses of one of them, and possibly by Scandinavian uses of one or both. (1) OE. had bord¹ neut. ‘board, plank, shield, ? table’, a Common Teut. str. neut. n., = OFris. and OS. bord (MDu. bort, -de, Du. boord ‘board’, bord ‘shelf, plate, trencher’), MHG. and mod.G. bort ‘board’, Goth. baurd in fotubaurd ‘foot-stool’, ON. borð ‘board, plank, table, maintenance at table’ (Sw. and Da. bord table):—OTeut. *bord-o(m, repr. an Aryan *bhṛdhom, Skr. *bṛdham: see bred n. (2) OE. had bord² ‘border, rim, side, ship's side’, esp. in phrases innan, utan bordes, also a Common Teut. n., orig. str. masc. but often also (by confusion with bord¹) neuter: cf. OS. bord masc. (? neut.), MDu. bort, boort -de, Du. boord masc., ‘border, edge, ship's side’, OHG., MHG. bort masc., mod.G. bord masc. (and neut.) ‘margin, border, ship-board’, ON. borð neut. ‘margin, shore, ship-board’ (Sw., Da. bord ‘ship-board’):—OTeut. *bord-oz side, border, rim. (3) Relationship between these two words is uncertain: Franck suggests that bord² is a ppl. form from vbl. root ber- to raise, representing an Aryan *bhṛtós ‘raised, made projecting’. But the two were associated and confused at an early date: in most of the Teutonic langs., some of the senses of the masc. word, in ON. and perh. in OE. all of them, have gone over to the neuter. It is certain that the sense ‘side or board of a ship’ belongs to bord²; so prob. did that of ‘shield’, the original sense being ‘rim, limb, or border of the shield’; the sense ‘table’ is doubtful. (4) The WGer. bord² masc. ‘border, edge, coast, side, ship's side’ was adopted in Romanic, giving med.L. bordus, It., Sp., Pg. bordo, F. bord. In the ME. period, and subsequently, the French use of the word has in return greatly influenced the Eng., so that certain modern uses and phrases of board are really from French. It is also possible that the development in ME. was in some points (see branch II.) due to Scandinavian uses.]
    I. A board of wood or other substance. [OE. bord¹:—OTeut. bordo(m.]
    1. a. A piece of timber sawn thin, and having considerable extent of surface; usually a rectangular piece of much greater length than breadth; a thin plank. Rarely used without the article, as in made of board, i.e. of thin wood.
    Technically, board is distinguished from plank by its thinness: it ought to be more than 4 inches in width, and not more than 2½ in thickness, but is generally much thinner.

c 1000 ælfric Gen. vi. 14 Wirc ðe nu ænne arc of aheawenum bordum. c 1300 K. Alis. 6415 Al so hit weore an oken bord. 1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 126 Fyre all cleir Soyn throu the thik burd can appeir. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xii. 239 He shop þe ship of shides and of bordes. c 1440 York Myst. viii. 97 To hewe þis burde I wyll begynne. 1535 Coverdale Zeph. ii. 14 Bordes of Cedre. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 32 Ships are but boords. 1611 Bible Acts xxvii. 44 Some on boords, and some on broken pieces of the ship. 1661 S. Partridge Double Scale Proport. 36 A plain Superficies, as a Board or Plank. 1716–8 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xxxviii. 149 Covered..with boards to keep out the rain. 1798 Southey Ballads, Cross Roads 25 They carried her upon a board In the clothes in which she died. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 122 The cheeks never muve, nae mair than gin they were brods. 1881 Mechanic 50. §146 Floor boards are, or ought to be, an inch in thickness. Boards are generally distinguished as ‘half-inch board’, ‘three-quarter board’, etc.

b. A flat slab of wood fitted for various purposes, indicated either contextually, or by some word prefixed, as ironing-board, knife-board, etc., the backing, burnishing, cutting, gilding boards, used by bookbinders, etc., the bare boards (of a floor). Also spec. = surf-board, esp. in attrib. uses. So back-board, etc.

1552 Huloet, Bourde or shelf whervpon pottes are sette. 1779 J. King Jrnl. Mar. in Cook's Voy. (1785) III. v. vii. 145 Twenty or thirty of the natives [of the Sandwich Islands], taking each a long narrow board, rounded at the ends, set out together from the shore. Ibid. 146 As soon as they have gained..the smooth water beyond the surf, they lay themselves at length on their board, and..place themselves on the summit of the largest surge, by which they are driven along with amazing rapidity toward the shore. a 1837 G. Kennedy Anna Ross 144 Lying on a board to keep her figure straight. 1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery xvi. (1852) 336 Dust a little flour over the board and paste⁓roller. 1864 Tennyson Grandmother 79 Pattering over the boards, she comes and goes at her will. 1866 Holme Lee Silver Age 128 Laces fresh from the ironing-board. 1898 [see surf-riding s.v. surf n. 3]. 1962 Austral. Women's Weekly Suppl. 24 Oct. 3/1 Special sections of most beaches are now reserved for board-riders. 1963 Observer 13 Oct. 15/6, I hate to think of the next kid that gets stoked on board riding..and wins a world championship and nobody even knows him. 1966 Weekly News (N.Z.) 19 Jan. 10/4 Lyall Bay..has a regular and well-shaped wave suitable for both swimmer and board rider.

c. spec. in pl. The stage of a theatre; hence in various phrases. Cf. stage and tread v. 1 b.

1768 A. Murphy Let. 14 Mar. in Private Corr. Garrick (1831) I. 291 Mrs. Yates would have died on the boards sooner than have served me in that manner. a 1779 Garrick in Boswell Johnson (1848) 490/1 The most vulgar ruffian that ever went upon boards. 1815 Scribbleomania 120 To gain a footing upon the theatrical boards. 1838 Dickens Mem. Grimaldi i, He was brought out by his father on the boards of Old Drury. 1883 Fortn. Rev. 470 One of the most honest actors that ever trod the boards. 1948 W. S. Maugham Catalina xxxii. 220 Nor must you think that you demean yourself by treading the boards.

    2. a. A tablet or extended surface of wood, whether formed of a single wide board, or of several united at the edges.
    Used e.g. for educational purposes (black board), for stretching paper on in drawing, for moulding, for modelling, for kneading or making pastry on (bake-board, paste-board), for arithmetical calculations (see abacus), for reflecting or reinforcing sound (sounding-board), for standing on (foot-board), for springing or diving from (spring-board, diving-board), for temporarily closing an aperture, chimney-place, window, etc., etc. Also extended to tablets of other material, e.g. papier-maché, similarly used.
    b. esp. (= notice-board.) A tablet upon which public notices and intimations are written, or to which they are affixed.
    to keep one's name on the boards: to remain a member of a college (at Cambridge).

c 1340 Cursor M. 16684 Abovyn his hed..a borde was made fast There-on was the tytle wretyn. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 186 A burde hung us biforn..nowther of yren, ne of tre. 1566 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 227 Compelled to kyss a paynted brod (which thei called ‘Nostre Dame’). 1626 Bacon Sylva §145 The strings of a Lute..do give a far greater Sound, by reason of the Knot and Board, and Concave underneath. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. vii. Wks. (1851) 179 Go on, why do you take away the Board [abacum]? Do you not understand Progression in Arithmetick? 1847 Tennyson Princ. ii. 60 Which [statutes] hastily subscribed, We enter'd on the boards. 1870 F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 100 On a board amidst the firs..is a second notification. 1883 Daily Tel. 15 May 2/7 This hit [at cricket] caused three figures to appear on the board. 1885 Free Ch. Coll. Calendar 21 The matriculation takes place in the Senate Hall at times indicated on the Board at the gate.

c. spec. The tablet or frame on which some games are played, as chess-board, draught-board, bagatelle-board, backgammon-board; the frame used for scoring at cribbage. Also, the target in the game of darts. Often fig.

1474 Caxton Chesse 6 The maner of the table, of the chesse borde. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 67 They will play away King, Queen..Pawnes, and all, before they will turn up the board. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. (1704) III. xv. 497 There is scarce any thing but pawns left upon the board. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 217, I cannot help suspecting that, board for board, we cribbage-players are as well amused as they [chess-players]. 1880 Disraeli Endym. viii. 35 The Tories..were swept off the board. 1936 R. Croft-Cooke Darts ii. 10 However boards may vary in size, in the arrangement of double spaces, the numbers are always placed in the same order. 1940 N. Marsh Death at Bar ii. 28 Cubitt hurled his last dart at the board. Ibid. 31 If you'll stretch your hand out flat on the board I'll outline it with darts. 1969 Punch 25 Nov. 808/2, I am the man who gets a double 20 with his opening dart, then never again even reaches the board.

d. Austral. and N.Z. (See quots. 1890 and 1941.)

[1857 R. B. Paul Lett. fr. Canterbury vi. 90 A tarpaulin or a few boards to shear on.] 1878 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Ups & Downs vii. 74 Next year I hope we shall have fifty thousand to shear, and..I don't see why there shouldn't be a hundred thousand on the board before you sell out. 1890 Chambers's Jrnl. 17 May 310/2 Down each side [of the Australian woolshed] is a clear space some ten feet in width, technically known as ‘the board’. Here the shearers work. 1925 R. Rees Lake of Enchantment viii. 113 The shed hands with brooms [swept] the ‘board’ clear. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 11 Board, the floor of a shearing shed; the whole number of shearers employed in a single shearing shed. 1956 G. Bowen Wool Away! (ed. 2) vii. 96 If a ‘sheepo’ wants to stay popular with the board of shearers he will be fair at all times.

e. across the board: see across B. 2 c.
3. a. A kind of thick stiff paper; a substance formed by pasting or squeezing layers of paper together; usually in combinations, as pasteboard, cardboard, mill-board, Bristol board, perforated board.

1660 Act 12 Chas. II, iv. Sched., Boards vocat. Pastboards for bookes.

b. In pl., playing-cards. slang.

1923 S. T. Felstead Underworld of London i. 11 The..steward [at the Cardsharpers' Club] is a well-known criminal famous for his skill with the ‘boards’. 1927 E. Wallace Mixer i. 7 The greatest and most amazingly clever card-sharp that ever handled the ‘boards’.

4. Bookbinding. Rectangular pieces of strong pasteboard used for the covers of books. A book in boards has these only covered with paper; if they are covered with cloth it is in cloth boards; if with leather, parchment, or the like, the book is bound. Formerly (still occas.) the boards were of thin wood, as ‘an ancient tome in oaken boards’.

1533 More Apol. iv. Wks. 850/2, I wil be bounden to eate it, though the booke be bounden in boardes. 1533–4 Act 25 Hen. VIII, xv. §1 Printed bookes..bounde in bourdes, some in lether, and some in parchement. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer (Colophon), [To] sell this present booke..bounde in paste or in boordes. 1790 Scott in Lockhart (1839) I. 233 The bookseller..had not one in boards. 1832 Athenæum No. 241. 375 Published in a neat pocket volume, cloth boards. 1852 Househ. Words VI. 290 A little drab volume in boards. 1883 Fortn. Rev. Apr. 495 In the case of really good books, ‘boards’ should always be regarded as temporary inadequate coverings.

II. A table. [A doubtful sense of OE. bord; but common already in 12th c. Cf. ON. borð, used also as in sense 7, Sw., Da. bord.]
† 5. a. gen. A table. Obs. (exc. in specific senses.)

a 1000 Ags. Ps. (Spelm.) lxviii[ix]. 23 (Bosw.) Geweorþe bord oððe mese [mensa] heora beforan him. a 1300 Cursor M. 14733 [Iesus] þair bordes ouerkest, þair penis spilt. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 57 Þe auteris of Crist are maad þe bordis of chaungis. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1657 There were bordis full bright..of Sedur tre fyn. c 1470 Henry Wallace ii. 279 Sche gart graith up a burd..With carpetts cled. 1771 P. Parsons Newmarket II. 24 That board of green cloth, the billiard-table.

(With the following cf. also sense 2 c.)
b. above board: open, openly, in the sight of all the company; see above-board. Similarly † under board: secretly, deceptively (obs.).

1603 Sir C. Heydon Jud. Astrol. ii. 67 After the fashion of iugglers, to occupie the minde of the spectatour, while in the meane time he plaies vnder board. 1620 R. Carpenter Conscionable Chr. (1623) 118 All his dealings are square and above the boord. 1686 W. de Britaine Hum. Prud. xvi. 74 Keep formality above board, but Prudence and Wisdom under Deck. 1841 L. Hunt Seer ii. (1864) 61 All..was open and above-board.

c. to sweep the board (at cards): to take all the cards, to pocket all the stakes. Also often transf. and fig., to carry off all the stakes or prizes; hence, to carry off all the honours.

1680 Cotton in Singer Hist. Cards (1816) 346 He who hath five cards of a suit..sweeps the board. 1711 Pope Rape Lock iii. 50 Spadillio first..Led off two captive trumps, and swept the board. 1822 Scott Nigel xxi, 'Tis the sitting gamester sweeps the board. 1882 H. Smart in Li-quor Christmas Ann. ii. 7/1 We have swept the board so far [in racing]. 1884 Livestock Jrnl. 25 July 83/3 Mr. Parry Thomas swept the board in Any Variety Sheep-dogs with his Sir Guy and Welsh Boy. 1905 Hornung Thief in Night 256 The bloated Guillemard usually sweeps the board with his fancy flyers [sc. horses].

6. spec. a. A table used for meals; now, always, a table spread for a repast. Chiefly poetical, exc. in certain phrases, esp. in association with bed to denote domestic relations; see bed 1 c. † God's board: an old name of the Lord's table, or Communion table in a church. † to begin the board: to take precedence at table.

a 1200 Moral Ode 307 in Lamb. Hom. 179 Be-fore godes borde. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 93 Mi bord is maked. Cumeð to borde. a 1225 Ancr. R. 324 Hwon gredie hundes stondeð biuoren þe borde. 1340 Ayenb. 235 Hi serueþ at godes borde. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 52 Fful ofte tyme he hadde the bord bigonne. c 1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 259 Afor mete, whenne the bordes er sette and made redye. c 1450 Sir Beues (1887) 1957 Palmer, thou semest best to me..Begyn the borde, I the pray. 1484 Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees Soc.) 162 Here I take the, Margaret, to my hanfest wif, to hold and to have, at bed and at burd. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 10 With humble & reuerent loue go to the borde of god. 1553 Primer in Liturgies Edw. VI (1844) 375 Pray we to God the Almighty Lord..To send his blessing on this board. 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 27 a, And when thou wilt ryse from the borde or supper. 1606 Holland Sueton. 38 Inviting a friend to his bourd. 1636 Featly Clavis Myst. 340 To present ourselves at the Lord's board. 1815 Scott Ld. of Isles ii. xvii, Gleaming o'er the social board. 1862 Trollope Orley F. viii. (ed. 4) 56 He looked at the banquet which was spread upon his board. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xi. 12 The wife whom he had once driven away from his hearth and board.

b. ? A wooden tray. (Cf. sense 2.)

? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 464 There he them warned..To take up the bordes everychone..Full lowe he set hym on his kne, And voyded his borde full gentely.

7. transf. a. Food served at the table; daily meals provided in a lodging or boarding-house according to stipulation; the supply of daily provisions; entertainment. Often joined with bed or lodging.
[Cf. ON. vera á borði með to be at board with.]

c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 464 Sche wolde suffre him no thing for to pay For bord ne clothing. 1465 Marg. Paston Lett. 505 II. 193 He payth for hys borde wykely xxd. 1466 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 211 For v. mennes bord..ijs. xd. 1575 Brieff Disc. Troub. Franckford (1846) 145 In a great deale off dett..for their necessary bourde. 1636–46 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) Pref. 26 Till I suld see how his burd suld be payit. 1856 Olmsted Slave States 47 Let them find their own board.

b. The condition of boarding at another's house.

a 1658 Cleveland Gen. Poems (1677) 29 Or break up House, like an expensive Lord, That gives his Purse a Sob, and lives at Board. 1632 Field & Mass. Fatal Dow. iv. i, Young ladies appear as if they came from board last week out of the country.

8. a. A table at which a council is held; hence, a meeting of such a council round the table.

1575–6 Lansdowne MS. 21 in Thynne Animadv. (1865) Introd. 53 Called before the highe boorde of thee counsell. a 1674 Clarendon (L.) Better acquainted with affairs than any other who sat then at that board. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3840/1 One of the Clerks of Her Majesty's Board of Green-Cloth. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth II. 5 Taking a place at the council board. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 443 The new King..took his place at the head of the board. Ibid. II. 75 His gloomy looks showed how little he was pleased with what had passed at the board.

b. Hence: The company of persons who meet at a council-table; the recognized word for a body of persons officially constituted for the transaction or superintendence of some particular business, indicated by the full title, as Board of Control, B. of Trade, B. of Commissioners, B. of Directors, B. of Guardians, Local (Government) Board, Sanitary Board, School Board.

1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, i. i. 79 The Honourable Boord of Councell. 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. in Phœnix (1707) I. 190 In the ordinary course of the Board. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 478 ¶14, I would propose that there be a board of directors. 1780 Burke Sp. Econ. Reform Wks. 1842 I. 249 We want no instructions from boards of trade, or from any other board. 1796 (title) Report of the Board of Health, at the first annual Meeting, May 27. 1804 Hansard's Parl. Deb. I. 1168 By command of the Master General and Board of Ordnance. 1838 Dickens O. Twist ii, ‘Bow to the board,’ said Bumble. Oliver..seeing no board but the table, fortunately bowed to that. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 195 The treasurer had been succeeded by a board, of which a Papist was the head. 1863 H. Cox Instit. iii. ix. 732 It is carried into execution by local Boards.

c. U.S. (a) The stock exchange; also attrib.; big board (colloq.), spec. the New York Stock Exchange or a quotation board for securities listed there; (b) (See quot. 1909.)

1837 Hennepin (Illinois) Jrnl. 26 Oct. 1/4 The sales of specie to-day, at the Board, were $1,700 in American gold. 1905 Daily Chron. 28 Apr. 4/4 None of the ‘board members’—as the Stock Exchange men are called—ever appears on the kerb... While fortunes are made and lost on the kerb, it does not seem so serious a business as ‘on the board’. 1909 Ibid. 3 May 4/6 A ‘board’ appears to be a ‘committee’ in the United States, while their word committee is applied to what we should call a board. 1929 Times 30 Oct. 14/1 Just before the close of the market on the ‘big board’. 1969 Daily Tel. 6 Feb. 3/6 The New York Stock Exchange, known as the ‘big board’, does about twice the amount of business, but is less speculative than the American Stock Exchange.

9. Any piece of furniture resembling a table; with various defining words, as dressing board a dresser, sideboard a side table; also, the platform on which tailors sit while sewing, etc.

1400 Test. Ebor. (1836) I. 260 Unum platyngborde..vj. brade bordes beste in domo. 1601 F. Tate Househ. Ord. Edw. II (1876) 68 Every messe that commeth from the dressing bourd. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. ii. 162 By trade a tailor..again he'd mount the board.

III. A shield. [OE. bord²: if orig. ‘border’ or ‘rim’.]
† 10. A shield. Obs.

a 1000 Elene 114 (Gr.) Þær wæs borda ᵹebrec. c 1205 Lay. 9283 His gold ileired bord. c 1400 Destr. Troy 5827 He hit hym so hetturly..on the shild, þat he breke þurgh the burd. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 457 Content he wes..On fit to fecht withoutin ony hors, Doublet alane, withoutin ony bourd.

IV. A border, side, coast. [OE. bord²; lost in ME. and replaced by F. bord.]
11. The border or side of anything; a hem; an edge; a coast. Obs. exc. in seaboard, sea-coast.

c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. Pref. 2 (Sw.) Hu hi..sibbe innan bordes ᵹehioldon..and hu mon utan bordes..lare hider on lond sohte. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 159 Spures vnder, Of bryȝt golde vpon silk bordes. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 149 In other place a borde of hem [plants] let make. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. ii. 36 Twa robbis..Of rich purpour and styf burd of gold. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 369 Out of Denmark be se burd mony myle. 1600 J. Dymmok Ireland (1843) 34 The approaches..should be..carryed to the board of the counterscarp. 1874 Mahaffy Soc. Life Greece viii. 243 To venture down from the hill forts to the sea board.

V. A ship's side. [OE. bord²: reinforced by OF. bord, and perh. by ON. borð, Da. bord.]
12. Naut. a. The side of a ship. (See aboard.) Now only in phrases, as within board, without board; over (the) board, over the ship's side, out of the ship, into the sea; weather-board (see quot.). (See also the following, and cf. larboard, starboard, etc.)

a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 1354 (Gr.) Ða be-utan beoþ earce bordum. c 1205 Lay. 1518 Ne cume ȝe neauer wiðuten scipes bord. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 211 Berez me [Jonah] to þe borde & baþeþes me þer-oute. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1699 Broghte us..to Bretayne..with-in [s]chippe-burdez. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 867 Fast by þe shippus bord. c 1430 Syr Gener. 364 Shuld cast hem ouer the ship bord. 1470–85 Malory Arthur (1816) II. 328 They came within board. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. x. 21 And within burd hes brocht That faithfull Greik. c 1532 Ld. Berners Huon 478 Huon..stode lenynge ouer the shyppe bord beholding the see. 1630 Wadsworth Sp. Pilgr. v. 38 They..brought vs from the Prow to the board of the Gally to helpe them in rowing. 1650 T. Froysell Gale of Opport. (1652) 31 The Marriners they cast him over Ship-board. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay x, I..kept..my anger within board. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 160 Without-board, without the ship. Within-board, within the ship. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Weather-board, that side of the ship which is to windward.

b. by the board: (down) by the ship's side, overboard, as to slip by the board: ‘to slip down a ship's side’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.). to come, go, etc. by the board: to fall overboard, to go for good and all, to be ‘carried away’. to try by the board: to try boarding. Also fig.

1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. iii. 40/1 In this fight their Reare-Admirals Maine Mast was shot by the boord. 1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 60/3 Our Main-stay, and our Main Top-Mast..came all by the board. 1666 Pepys Diary 11 Feb., The storms..have driven back three or four of them with their masts by the board. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4098/3 All her Masts came by the board. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy (1863) 210 Captain Wilson, therefore, resolved to try her by the board. 1856 Longfellow Wreck Hesp. xix, Her rattling shrouds, all sheathed in ice, With the masts, went by the board. 1859 Autobiog. Beggar Boy 14 Every instinct and feeling of humanity goes by the board. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. vi. 103 A class of grammatical distinctions which have gone by the board.

c. on board: on one side, close alongside (of a ship or shore); also as prep., short for on board of. (See also 14.) to lay (a ship) on board: to place one's own ship alongside of (it) for the purpose of fighting. to run on board (of), to fall on board (of): lit. to run against, fall foul of (a ship); fig. to make an attack, fall, upon (a person or thing). on even board with: exactly alongside with; fig. on even terms with, ‘square’ with.

c 1505 Dunbar Gold. Targe 55 Hard on burd vnto the blomyt medis..Aryvit scho. 1630 R. Brathwait Eng. Gentl. (1641) 351 Hee hath kept himselfe on even boord with all the world. 1655 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. i. (1669) 2/1 His hungry soul for want of better food, falls on board upon the Devil's chear. 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1202/3 The Glorieux..laid the Arms of Leyden on Board, which took Fire, and was burnt. 1707 Ibid. No. 4380/3 We saw..a cluster of 5 or 6 Ships on board each other. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton iii. 40 Keeping the coast close on board. 1797 Nelson in A. Duncan Life (1806) 41 The San Nicholas luffing up, the San Josef fell on board her. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay iii, A large..frigate ran on board of us. 1860 Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 172 It is better to keep the land on board as far as Solitary Isle.

d. board on board, (corruptly) board and board, board by board: side by side, close alongside of each other. [= Fr. bord à bord 14th c. in Littré, also ON. borð við borð.]

c 1450 Lonelich Grail xxxix. 370 It [a shipe] aproched so ny, Tyl bord on bord they weren. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World v. i. §6 When they were (as we call it) boord and boord, that is when they brought the Gallies sides together. 1634 W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. i. i, Roome for 3 Ships to come in board and board. 1697 Lond. Gaz. No. 3278/3 A Fight of several hours Board by Board. 1761 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 64/2 The Ships were board and board three different times, which occasioned great slaughter on both sides.

e. board and board: (sailing) by a succession of close tacks.

1926 R. Clements Stately Southerner 156 She met with a severe hammering off the Horn, but clawed her way to windward, and, after a week of board and board, managed to slip round.

† 13. (poetically in OE.) A ship. Obs.

a 1000 Elene 238 (Gr.) Bord oft onfeng..yða swengas. a 1000 Gnomica 188 (Gr.) He..druᵹað his ar on borde. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 470 Bryngez þat bryȝt vpon borde.

14. a. on board (beside the technical sense in 12 c) has now, in common use, the meaning: On or in a ship, boat, etc.; into or on to a ship. That this expression is elliptical, is witnessed by the fuller form on ship-board (cf. ME. ‘within schippe burdez’ in 12), and the construction ‘on board of the ship’, or ‘on board the ship’ (where it is perhaps often supposed that ‘board’ means the deck). Hence board-ship used attrib. or as adj.
On board appears to be a later expansion (cf. afoot, on foot) of aboard, a-bord, and this to have been taken directly from Fr. à bord, as in aller ou monter à bord, être à bord, short for au bord du vaisseau, in which bord ‘ship's side’ comes contextually to be equal to ‘ship’ itself. Similar phrases are used in other modern Teut. langs., as Du. aan boord, Ger. an bord, Sw., Da. om skibsbord. Although on borde occurs poetically in OE., and vpon borde in ME., in sense of ‘in, upon ship’, these appear to have no historical connexion with the later a-board, which begins about 1500, and on board, which appears late in the 17th c.

1688 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 450 Sir John Narborough..died on ship board. 1705 Addison Italy 6 A Capuchin who was on Board with us. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 528 The common sailor will not return on board. c 1800 P. Hoare Song, On board of the Arethusa. 1835 Marryat Jac. Faithf. i, He went on shore for my mother, and came on board again. 1840 ― Poor Jack xxiii, The captain..had his grog on board. 1852 Life in Bombay 216 The board-ship habit of taking brandy and water at night. 1894 M. Dyan Man's Keeping II. iii. 62 The liberal allowance of ‘board-ship’ flirtation. 1924 Blackw. Mag. June 743/2 In the curiously intimate routine of a board-ship life..we became very friendly.

b. on board is used as prep. for on board of.

1693 Lond. Gaz. No. 2847/3 They..put on board her 10 French Men. 1711 Ibid. No. 4887/3 From on Board Sir Edw. Whittaker, off the Lizard. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton xvi. 270 Nor would we let any of our men go on board them, or suffer any of their men to come on board us. 1847 Grote Greece ii. xlvii. IV. 189 They were placed on board a fleet. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 74 This man Stesilaus has been seen by him on board ship.

c. transf. (orig. U.S.). In or into a railway train, tram-car, omnibus, etc. Also, in or into an aircraft.

1872 Mark Twain Innoc. Abr. xii. 79 Once on board, the train will not start till your ticket has been examined. 1881 Daily News 7 Sept. 5/4 (U.S. Corresp.) The train started at 6.30, having on board Mrs. Garfield and her daughter. 1883 Harper's Mag. 847/1 She..found herself..on board the other train. 1915 Sphere 6 Feb. 151 The forward end of the front gondola of a Zeppelin is screened to protect the pilot... Searchlights..are carried on board to be used when necessary. 1969 Times 28 Nov. 1/4 A four-jet B.O.A.C. VC 10 airliner with 69 people on board.

d. Of drink: having been consumed (by a person). slang.

1800 R. Lowth Billesdon Coplow 2 Well sous'd by their dip, on they brush'd o'er the bottom, With liquor on board enough to besot 'em. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack xxiii. 164 The captain..had his grog on board, and was as brave as brass. 1940 N. Marsh Death at Bar iv. 72 With a brandy like this on board, I'd face the devil himself.

e. to take on board (fig.), to drink or consume; to swallow; also, to accept (an idea, etc.), to grasp.

1908 K. Grahame Wind in Willows x. 234 When Toad had taken as much stew on board as he thought he could possibly hold, he got up and said good-bye to the gipsy. 1979 Management Today Nov. 17/1 (heading) TV interviews can lose fears if Peter Fairley's techniques are taken on board. 1983 Listener 16 June 32/4 Someone who has previously given hardly any thought to nuclear weapons suddenly takes on board the full realisation of what they mean in terms of destruction. 1985 M. Gee Light Years xxxix. 257 She did love me once. You might find that hard to take on board. 1986 Theology July 304 ARCIC's failure to take on board what the critical study of religion has to tell us about how religious communities..really work.

15. Naut. Sideward direction (in reference to the ship's course); the course of a ship when tacking. to make boards: to tack. to make short boards: to tack frequently. Also in some fig. phrases, as † to sail on another board: to take another course of conduct. Cf. tack.
[Of Fr. origin: cf. Fr. virer de bord to turn the ship's side in another direction; courir des bords to tack. Cf. starboard and larboard used as directions in reference to a ship's course.]

1533 Bellenden Livy i. (1822) 73 Seing her husband wes dede, scho began to sail on ane uthir burde. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scotland (1858) I. 17 Thai salit..Ay be ane burd fyve dais and fyve nycht. 1596 Sir F. Vere Comm. 30 Making still toward them upon one board. 1685 Cotton Montaigne III. 456 To this and that side I make tacks and bords. 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) IV. 1404 We passed the night in making short boards. 1837 Marryat Dog-Fiend xlii, Standing in..to make a long board upon the next tack. 1862 Harper's Mag. (1884) Jan. 229/1 The tendency was to give her a stern board [i.e. to sail her stern first]. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports ii. viii. i. §5 The vessel will do it in two boards if there be room in the channel.

    VI. In Coal-mining.
    16. The name given in some colliery districts to each cutting or excavation in the direction of the working in the method called ‘board-and-pillar’, or ‘post-and-stall’ work; ‘a passage driven across the fibres or grain of the coal’. Newcastle Mining Terms.
    [Found in beginning of 18th c.: the coal was then dragged from the ‘face’ in sledges over wooden boards or deals laid down as ‘ways’. It is suggested that board thus came to mean ‘way’, ‘passage.’ Cf. Boardways Course in 18.]

1708 Compleat Collier, A yard and quarter wide for a headways..and out of this it is we turn off the boards or other workings for every particular hewer. 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 247 A series of broad parallel passages or bords about eight yards apart, communicating with each other by narrower passages or ‘headways’. 1854 North of England Inst. Mining Engineers II. 252 It is the practice here..to arrange board and pillar workings so that the goaf may lay on the dip of the face of the work. 1860 Fordyce Coal, etc. 32 The hewers working at the face of the bords or the pillar workings. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts III. 326 Working with pillars and rooms or boards, styled post and stall. (There are ‘narrow-boards’, ‘travelling-boards’, ‘stow-boards’, the ‘mother's gate or common going board’, etc.—R. Oliver Heslop, Corbridge.) 1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 64/1 In the former [sc. pillar work], which is also known as..‘bord and pillar’ in the north of England,..the field is divided into strips. 1960 Times Rev. Industry Oct. 34/3 Bord-and-pillar working.

VII. Comb. and attrib.
17. General comb., chiefly attrib., as (sense 1) board-lining, board-work; board-built adj.; (sense 6) board-end, board-head, board-knife; (sense 8) board-house, board-minister, board-officer, board-room (also transf., the members of a board).

1837 Hawthorne Amer. Note-Bks. (1871) I. 46 *Board-built and turf-buttressed hovels.

a 1652 Brome Damoiselle iv. i. A *Boordsend-King, a pay-all in a Tavern. 1820 Scott Abbot xxiii, Take thy place at the board-end, and refresh thyself after thy journey.

1637 Rutherford Lett. civ. (1862) I. 264, I wonder what He meaneth to put such a slave at the *board-head. a 1758 Ramsay Poems (1844) 82 Sat up at the boord-head.

1772 Wilson in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 62 The *Board-house, which is a large building for the use of the *board-officers.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 44 *Boordeknyfe, mensacula. 1530 Palsgr. 200/1 Borde knyfe, covteav de escuier.

1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S. County 159 The same *board-lining of the window.

1801 Huntington Bank of Faith 30 They were *board-ministers, or ministers belonging to the board.

1836 Dickens Sk. Boz i, A miserable looking woman is called into the *board-room. 1935 G. Greene England made Me ii. 47 The monogram had been designed by Sweden's leading artist..E.K. in the board-room; E.K. in the restaurants. 1959 Times 5 Oct. 2/6 The work involves..convincing the boardroom, management and operatives.

1825 Bro. Jonathan I. 8 The snow..driving thro' every nook and crevice of the *board-work.

18. Special comb. board-and-bat, -batten, applied attrib., esp. to a building constructed from wide boards, normally in conjunction with narrow battens; board-bill orig. U.S., the charge made for board (sense 7); board coal, a kind of coal resembling wood in its markings; board-fellow, a companion at table, a messmate; board-fence U.S., a close fence made with boards; so board-fencing; board foot, the volume of wood in a piece of timber 1 ft. square and 1 in. thick; † board-form, a trapezium; board-game, a game played on a board (sense 2 c); † board-land (see bord-land); board-man, a man who carries advertisement boards, a ‘sandwich man’; board-measure, superficial measure applied to boards; board-money = board-wages; board-nail, a spike or large brad; Board of Trade unit, the commercial unit of electrical energy, equivalent to one kilowatt-hour of current; abbrev. B.T.U.; board-rule, a scale for finding the superficial area of a board without calculation; † boardstock, a piece of timber to be sawn into boards; boardway's course, ‘the direction perpendicular to the cleavage of the coal’ (Coal-trade Terms, Northld. & Durh., 1851); board-work, -worker (see quots.). Also board-cloth, -school, -wages.

1902 G. Ellis Mod. Pract. Joinery xxiii. 350 *Board and batten, a method of forming the walls of wooden houses with a thick and thin board placed alternately. 1918 H. A. Vachell Some Happenings x. 157 A collection of the worst-looking board-and-batten shacks between Shasta and San Diego. 1939 Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath xv. 182 Board-and-bat shacks.

1833 E. T. Coke Subaltern's Furlough ii, He has gone away without paying..his *board bill. 1952 Koestler Arrow in Blue xv. 129 My board-bill in the Pension Glaser was often overdue for several weeks.

1760 Milles in Phil. Trans. LI. 537 That which they call the wood coal, or *board coal, from the resemblance which the pieces have to the grain of deal boards. 1811 J. Pinkerton Petral. I. 596 Straight flat pieces, three or four feet in length, which are called board-coal.

1382 Wyclif Judg. xiv. 11 Thei ȝouen to him *bordfelawis thretti. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 102 Be you once more bed-fellows and board-fellows.

1718 in Records Early Hist. Boston XIII. 48 They..shall..maintain a substanciall *board fence..from the Barn to three rods distant southerly from the dwelling house. 1860 O. W. Holmes Prof. Breakf.-t. xi. 331 When the boys used to make pictures of me with chalk on the board-fences. 1917 C. Mathewson Sec. Base Sloan xi. 143 It had a board fence around it.

1870 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. VIII. 232 By means of hedging and movable *board fencing, keep up a great deal of pasturage.

1896 Vermont Board of Agric. Rep. XV. 83 About 24 cubic feet per acre is added..annually—this means about 150 board feet.

1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Def., Called of the Grekes trapezia..may be called in englishe *borde formes.

1934 Discovery Oct. 287/2 Among Vikings as well as Celts *board-games of this type are widely known.

1884 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Dec. 32 The announcements were borne by a gang of unhappy *board-men.

1656 H. Phillips Purch. Patt. (1676) 142 Draw the like line for *Board measure.

1809 R. Langford Introd. Trade 62 *Board Money, and Small Charges.

1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xx. 498 The spike or *board-nails of the records.

1913 Metal Industry Handbk. 41/1 The *Board of Trade Unit is the commercial standard for purposes of public supply, and is measured by the product at the rate of doing work into the hours divided by 1,000: hence 1 B.T.U. = 1,000 Watt hours.

1619 Sir R. Boyle in Lismore Papers (1886) I. 217, 240 tymber trees..wherof most is squared and reserved for *boordstocks. 1623 E. Wynne in Whitbourne Newfoundland 105 Wee got home as many boordstocks, as afforded vs aboue two hundred boords.

1887 Creer (title) *Board work, or the Art of Wig making. Ibid. Introd., Board-work, in the fullest extent of its signification, means all that which is done by clever hairdressers and wig-makers in the workshop and at the work table. 1927 Daily Express 5 July 5/4 Students are taught the general principles of dressing hair and the technique of board-work, or preparation of hair for making transformations, wigs, and curls.

1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §428 *Board worker; hairdresser's model maker, perruquier, postiche worker, posticheur, wig-maker; general terms for all workers engaged in..making wigs [etc.].

Add: [I.] [2.] f. Cricket. = score-board (b) s.v. score n. 22; esp. in (so many runs) on the board, i.e. scored.

1883 Daily Tel. 15 May 2/7 This hit caused three figures to appear on the board. 1932 Times 29 July 13/4 They had 84 on the board for eight wickets. 1951 People 3 June 8/7 George Lambert..had Booth and Edrich out with only 40 on the board. 1977 J. Laker One-Day Cricket 70 Ian Chappell..had put West Indies in to bat and with only 12 runs on the board, Australia struck the first blow. 1985 New Yorker 5 Aug. 34/1 The Phillies..put sixteen on the board in their first two turns at bat.

g. Any (usu. rectangular) flat piece of rigid material, or an assembly of several such pieces, to which are attached controls, switches, etc. Usu. preceded by a word denoting these fixtures or their purpose, as control board, switchboard, etc. Cf. panel n.¹ 16.

1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 99/2 Board (Elec. Eng.). See control-board, distribution-board. 1966 Simulation Jan. 56/1 The main control board on the right is in many respects a duplicate of our conventional boards with a combination bench and vertical panel design. 1972 Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) ii. vi. 9 Board, an assembly of panels, the principal function of which is indicated by the same prefix as is used for panels, e.g. switchboard, controlboard, etc. 1985 J. Trapido Internat. Dict. Theatre Lang. 88 Board. 1. A general term for the central control device for the stage lighting circuitry. It normally implies direct control, as opposed to ‘console’, which denotes remote control apparatus, often computer assisted. The term is a shortened form of control board or, still older, switchboard.

h. Electronics. A printed circuit board together with its attached electronic components, esp. considered as an addition to existing circuitry in a computer, etc. Cf. *daughterboard n., *motherboard n.

1979 Personal Computer World Nov. 56/1 They will also be demonstrating colour add-on boards for this machine. 1985 Which Computer? Apr. 66/1 Some of these applications require an internal board. 1988 PC Mag. Oct. 114/3 The board comes with a slim manual and a setup disc.

▸ board shorts n. orig. Austral. long, loose-fitting shorts of a style originally worn by surfers.

1975 National Times (Sydney) 13 Jan. 40/1 If you are a 14-year-old schoolgirl..what really sends your heart into turmoil is the sight of a..sun-bronzed surf wearing *board shorts and bare feet. 2000 P. Moore Full Montezuma (2001) xxi. 363 He was tanned with bleached dreads, and wore only boardshorts and a shark's tooth necklace.

▪ II. board, v.
    (bɔəd)
    Forms: 4–6 borde, 5–7 bord, 6–7 boord, bourd, 6 boarde, Sc. burd, 6– board.
    [f. prec. n.: cf. F. border; in senses 4 to 9 influenced by F. aborder. Cf. abord.]
    I. Related to board = side of a ship, coast.
    1. trans. a. To come close up to or alongside (a ship), usually for the purpose of attacking; to lay on board, or fall on board of. b. In later use, To go on board of or enter (a ship), usually in a hostile manner.

1494 Fabyan vii. 450 So cruelly assaylyd y{supt} they were borded or they myght be rescowyd. 1530 Palsgr. 460/1, I borde a shyppe..Jaborde vne nauire. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. v. i, 65 This is he that did the Tiger boord. 1672 Lond. Gaz. No. 700/4 The Cambridge boarded one of the biggest of them, having beaten all her Men from the Decks, but..did not venture to let any of her Men enter her. 1706 Ibid. No. 4204/3 A..Privateer came up with her..boarded her, and lash'd her fast, in which manner they fought two hours. 1797 Nelson in A. Duncan Life (1806) 43 In boarding the San Nicholas..we lost about seven killed. 1882 Hamley Traseaden Hall II. 251 The English vessel had..grappled the enemy and finally boarded her, the boarding party being led by the captain.

fig. 1580 Lyly Euphues 333 Ladyes pretende a great skyrmishe at the first, yet are boorded willinglye at the last.

† c. intr. to board with (in sense a.) Obs.

c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 45 All the Kyngs Navye schall not suffice to bord with Caryks, and other grete Schippis. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 102 We had taken the Vice-Admirall, the first time shee bourded with us.

d. absol. (in sense b.)

1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. ii. xvi. 70 Their general practice is to board immediately. 1803 in Nicolas Disp. Nelson V. 186 note, Lieutenant Jones, in boarding, was mortally wounded. 1846 Arnold Hist. Rome II. xl. 575 To enable their men..to decide the battle by boarding.

2. trans. a. To go on board of, embark on.

1597 Warner Alb. Eng., æneidos 325 Hee boording his Shippes..left Carthage. 1883 H. M. Kennedy tr. Ten Brink's E.E. Lit. 232 The fisherman prepares a ship, which he boards with his wife and children.

b. transf. To enter (a vehicle, railway train, aircraft, etc.). Also absol. orig. U.S.

1848 J. Burns Notes of Tour in U.S. & Canada vi. 108 We..then boarded, to use a Yankeeism, the stage for Cleveland. 1879 Good Words Jan. 50 The tramps had boarded a train 50 miles away. 1935 Discovery Feb. 58/2 London bus-conductors..are having a busy time dissuading would-be passengers from trying to board their buses. 1959 I. Fleming Goldfinger xii. 164 Going to ask both to board the plane before the car. 1968 A. Hailey Airport ii. iv. 184 A would-be stowaway merely boarded an aeroplane..and sat quietly, waiting for departure. Ibid. iii. viii. 399 The gate agent who had been in charge at gate forty-seven when Flight Two left..did not remember Guerrero boarding.

† 3. trans. To put or take on board ship. Obs.

1542 in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) I. 243 A great nombre of the Spanyardes beyng caryed and borded. 1593 P. Nichols Drake Revived in Arb. Garner V. 558 Boarding and stowing our provisions.

4. fig. To approach, ‘make up to’, accost, address, ‘assail’; to make advances to. Cf. accost.

a 1547 Earl of Surrey æneid iv. 395 At length her self bordeth Aeneas thus. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 332 Philautus..began to boord hir in this manner. 1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. ii. 5 Whom thus at gaze the palmer gan to bord With goodly reason. 1600 Fairfax Tasso xix. lxxvii, With some courtly tearmes the wench he bords. 1642 R. Carpenter Experience i. Med. iii. 56 When the body is..borded by a sicknesse. a 1726 Vanbrugh False Fr. i. i. 97 What..do you expect from boarding a woman..already heart and soul engag'd to another?

5. intr. Of a ship: To tack; to sail athwart the wind on alternate sides, so that the general course is against the wind. Also to board to and again, to board it, to board it up.

1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 39 This we call boording or beating it vp vpon a tacke in the winds eye. a 1631 Donne Serm. (1839) IV. 307 It is well..if we can beat out a Storm at Sea with Boarding-to-and-again. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece iii. 286 They resolved..to bord it till Morning. 1692 in Capt. Smith's Seaman's Gram. i. xvi, To make a board, or board it up, is to turn to Windward.

† 6. trans. To border on, approach; intr. to lie close by, border upon.

1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. xi. 43 The stubborne Newre [Nore], whose waters gray By faire Kilkenny and Rosseponte boord. 1610 P. Holland Camden's Brit. I. 242. 1636 Fames Iter Lanc. 4 In a wan fainte paleness boarding death.

II. Related to board = thin wood, etc.
7. a. trans. To cover or furnish with boards. to board over: to cover with boarding. to board up: to close with boarding.

1530 Palsgr. 460/1 Let your parlour be boorded. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 153 The Floors being Boarded. 1885 Howells S. Lapham I. iii. 77 Many of the house-holders had boarded up their front doors. Ibid. iv. 89 The floors were roughly boarded over.

† b. To put in a coffin; to bury. Sc. Obs.

1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 687 Syne in Tynmouth..Tha burdit him thair richt solempnitly.

c. Bookbinding. To bind (a book) in boards.

1813 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1839) IV. 51 The demand for these continuing faster than they can be boarded. 1857 Buckle in A. Huth Life I. 132, I should prefer having the whole impression boarded at once.

d. To treat (leather) with a graining-board.

1860 Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 5) 691 The stiffer parts being boarded both on the grain and flesh sides. 1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 387/1 When dry enough for the purpose, the skin is boarded,..the effect of which is to bring up the grain,..and also to make it supple. 1968 J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 237 Box leather: This is the result of ‘boarding’ the leather (i.e. breaking up the natural grain surface by close parallel creases) and is a process used on high-grade smooth leathers.

III. Related to board = table, regular meals.
8. a. trans. To provide (a lodger, etc.) with daily meals; now generally to supply with both food and lodging at a fixed rate. See also boarding vbl. n. 7.

1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. i. 35 We cannot lodge and board a dozen or fourteene Gentlewomen. 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 308 In his own house he boarded and kept full four and twenty scholars. 1724 Lond. Gaz. No. 6265/4 At Mrs. Grandmaison's School..young Gentlewomen are Boarded.

b. To put up and feed (an animal). orig. U.S.

1875 Cincinnati Daily Times 1 July 2/8 Metropolitan Livery, Boarding and Sale Stables..Special attention given monthly and day boarding horses. 1880 W. D. Howells Undiscovered Country 261 The mare..was consequently boarded out of town a good deal. 1905 N.Y. Even. Post 24 Feb. 1 The owner of a large stable..said that..he had recently had some seventy horses to board. 1969 Times 14 Nov. 20/6 (Advt.), Two adorable scottie pups... Will board 4s. per day till Christmas.

9. a. intr. To have stated meals as a lodger at another person's house; to be supplied with food and lodging at a fixed rate; to live with a family as one of its members for a stipulated charge.

1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. lxiii. 48 To paie for boord, where euer this flock boords. 1667 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 332 My boy's time, when I boarded at Kingsland. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 296 ¶6 Gentlemen and Ladies, who board in the same House. 1850 W. Irving Goldsmith xxxiv. 324 He had engaged to board with the family.

b. to board round or board around: to board in succession in different houses. U.S.

1828 Ladies' Mag. (Boston) I. 215, I boarded round, as they termed it, that is, I boarded with every family in proportion to the number of scholars they sent. 1831 Ibid. IV. 557 [There was] a custom..that the instructor should ‘board around’ as it is called. That is board a short period in each family who sent children to the school—the length of time regulated by the number of scholars sent. 1833 Niles' Reg. XLIV. 347/1 Our schoolmasters are..‘boarded round’, so as to save the drawing the pay of the schoolmaster's board from the school fund. 1869 [see around adv. 5 a, b]. 1871 C. M. Yonge Pioneers & Founders vi. 165 The system was that of ‘boarding round’—i.e. the young mistress had to live a week alternately at each house, and went from thence to her school.

10. causal. To place at board. So to board out.

1655 Francion 69 He..boorded me with the Master of the College at Lysieux. 1876 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. ii. 203 The boys were boarded among the dames of the village. Mod. Many workhouse children are now boarded out with cottagers.

11. To call before a selection board, medical board, or the like. Usu. in pass.

1917 W. Owen Let. 25 Sept. (1967) 496, I am to be boarded today, and am waiting to be called in at any moment. 1917 G. S. Gordon Let. 1 Dec. (1943) 82 He has never been boarded. 1964 New Society 16 Apr. 13/1 Of the 715 candidates boarded, 104 were selected.