back-board, n.
(ˈbækbɔəd)
[f. back n.]
† 1. = larboard. Only in OE.: see babord.
2. A board placed at, or forming, the back of anything, e.g. of a picture, a cart, a boat.
| 1761 Brit. Mag. II. 613 Artfully concealed behind the back-board of Perrott's picture. 1769 Falconer Mar. Dict., Back-Board, a piece of board of a semicircular figure, placed transversly in the after-part of a boat, and serving the passengers to recline against. 1877 Tinsley's Mag. Aug. 220 Wife and family in the ramshackle tax-cart, the little ones ‘creening’ over the back-board. |
3. A board attached to the rim of a water-wheel to prevent the water from running off the floats into the interior of the wheel.
| 1864 Webster cites Nicholson. |
4. A board held or strapped across the back to straighten the figure.
| 1794–1801 E. Darwin Zoon. III. 143 Methods of confining or directing the growth of young people..such as back-boards. 1801 M. Edgeworth Fr. Governess (1831) 176 Her person had undergone all the tortures of back-boards, collars, stocks, dumb-bells. 1880 J. South Househ. Surg. (ed. 4) 332 Another abominable contrivance called a back-board..by which the girl's arms were trussed behind her, in much the same way as the wings of a roast fowl. |
5. ‘That part of the lathe which is sustained by the four legs, and which sustains the pillars that support the puppet-bar.’ Weale Dict. Terms 1849.
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Add: [2.] b. Basketball. A board positioned immediately behind the basket, which forms part of the playing area and from which the ball may rebound into the basket to score.
| 1929 L. E. Anderson Basketball for Women viii. 74 The ball strikes the backboard at an angle and rebounds into the basket. 1935 Encycl. Sports 63/2 Free throws are given as penalties for fouls, and these are taken from a position behind the free-throw line, 9 ft. in front of the backboard. 1957 Encycl. Brit. III. 181/2 The backboard may be of two types: rectangular, 6 ft. horizontally and 4 ft. vertically, or fan-shaped, 54 in. wide with a 29-in. radius from centre base to top. It may be of any rigid material with flat front surface. 1960 J. Updike Rabbit, Run 3 Boys are playing basketball around a telephone pole with a backboard bolted to it. 1986 Basketball Monthly Aug./Sept. 11/3 If you post up too low, you'll find your baseline moves put you behind the backboard. |
c. Lawn Tennis. A wall or other surface against which a player can practise shots. orig. U.S.
| 1935 H. I. Driver Tennis for Teachers xviii. 84 The backboard is the best opponent a player can have, because it always returns the ball. 1964 World Tennis June 30/2 You are now sufficiently advanced to play a game against the backboard. Ibid. 31/1 After several backboard sessions..you can get further forehand practice by having someone play the ball to you. 1979 United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 497 Facilities: 18 courts..ball machines; practice alleys; backboard. |
d. Ice-Hockey. Any of the boards surrounding the area behind each goal. Usu. in pl.
| 1968 Boston Globe 3 Jan. 47/3 This is an important consideration in Madison Square Garden where there is a comparatively small area behind the nets and the puck takes..some bounces off the backboards. 1978 Winnipeg Free Press 25 Sept. 53/5 Hammarstrom slipped behind the Winnipeg defence to put away a rebound off the backboards. |
e. Hockey. A board placed at ground level across the back of the goal.
| 1987 Guardian 13 Apr. 27/2 A rare attacking sortie gave the patient Americans their chance and Donnelly's shot clattered the back board. |