Jump To:

• across-the-board
  across-the-board

  adjective

  applying to all employees, members, groups, or categories; general.
• across the board
  across the board

  Applying to all the individuals in a group, as in They promised us an across-the-board tax cut, that is, one applying to all taxpayers, regardless of income. This expression comes from horse racing, where it refers to a bet that covers all possible ways of winning money on a race: win (first), place (second), or show (third). The board here is the notice-board on which the races and betting odds are listed. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.

across-the-board

American  

[uh-kraws-thuh-bawrd, -bohrd, uh-kros-] / əˈkrɔs ðəˈbɔrd, -ˈboʊrd, əˈkrɒs- /

adjective

1. applying to all employees, members, groups, or categories; general.

   The across-the-board pay increase means a raise for all employees.

2. (of a bet) covering all possibilities of winning on a given result, especially by placing a combination bet on one horse in a race for win, place, and show.

---

across-the-board British  

adjective

1. (of salary increases, taxation cuts, etc) affecting all levels or classes equally

2. horse racing the US term for each way

---

across the board Idioms  

1. Applying to all the individuals in a group, as in They promised us an across-the-board tax cut, that is, one applying to all taxpayers, regardless of income. This expression comes from horse racing, where it refers to a bet that covers all possible ways of winning money on a race: win (first), place (second), or show (third). The board here is the notice-board on which the races and betting odds are listed. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.

---

Etymology

Origin of across-the-board

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

Perry has even worked in a visit from his across-the-pond cross-dressing counterpart, the Irish comic actor Brendan O’Carroll, who plays the bosomy Agnes Brown on the Irish sitcom “Mrs. Brown’s Boys.”

From New York Times • Feb. 25, 2022

Her fashion choices for the across-the-pond jaunt are making headlines for being literal homages to icons of British culture.

From Washington Post • Jun. 3, 2019

When Lucas attempts a jocularly posh accent, Karyn observes, "His attempt at an across-the-pond accent had foundered somewhere around Bermuda."

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2016

Kerry’s fashion flourish may have inspired a bit of an across-the-pond trend: Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne apparently expressed interest to U.S. officials about getting their own pairs.

From Washington Post • Mar. 6, 2013

And his fashion flourish might have inspired a bit of an across-the-pond trend: Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne apparently expressed interest to U.S. officials about getting their own pairs.

From Washington Post • Mar. 5, 2013

Related Words

• sweeping