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.
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 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.]
Board
(Board), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Boarded; p. pr. & vb. n. Boarding.]
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.
