blackboard

American  

[blak-bawrd, -bohrd] / ˈblækˌbɔrd, -ˌboʊrd /

noun

blackboards plural

1. a sheet of smooth, hard material, especially dark slate, used in schools, lecture rooms, etc., for writing or drawing on with chalk.

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blackboard British  

/ ˈblækˌbɔːd /

noun

1. a hard or rigid surface made of a smooth usually dark substance, used for writing or drawing on with chalk, esp in teaching

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• blackboards
  plural

Etymology

Origin of blackboard

First recorded in 1815–25; black + board

Example Sentences

His wife, Francesca, left her job as a management consultant at ed-tech firm Blackboard to run the business’s finances.

From Washington Post • Jan. 22, 2023

His breakthrough came in The Blackboard Jungle in 1955, in the role of a disruptive pupil in an inner-city school.

From BBC • Jan. 7, 2022

He went on to appear in films like "Blackboard Jungle," "Forbidden Planet," "The Tender Trap," "Love Me Tender," "The Last Wagon," "Pollyanna," "Ten Who Dared," "Ride the High Country," among others.

From Fox News • Apr. 6, 2020

Blackboard jungle: After graduation, McGuire joined her husband in Memphis, where he was a school administrator.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2016

See that the outline is thoroughly committed to memory, and test the pupil's knowledge by calling upon him to read at sight the Blackboard Outline below.

From Outline Studies in the Old Testament for Bible Teachers by Hurlbut, Jesse Lyman