board

American  

[bawrd] / bɔrd /

noun

boards plural

1. a piece of wood sawed thin, and of considerable length and breadth compared with the thickness.

2. a flat slab of wood or other material for some specific purpose.

   a cutting board.

3. a sheet of wood, cardboard, paper, etc., with or without markings, for some special use, as a checkerboard or chessboard.

4. boards,

   1. Theater. the stage.

      The play will go on the boards next week.

   2. the wooden fence surrounding the playing area of an ice-hockey rink.

   3. a racing course made of wood, used especially for track meets held indoors.

      This will be his first time running on boards.

5. Bookbinding. stiff cardboard or other material covered with paper, cloth, or the like to form the covers for a book.

6. Building Trades. composition material made in large sheets, as plasterboard or corkboard.

7. a table, especially to serve food on.

8. daily meals, especially as provided for pay.

   The charge at the time was twenty dollars a day for room and board.

9. an official group of persons who direct or supervise some activity.

   The motion was approved by the board of directors.

10. Nautical.

    1. the side of a ship.

    2. one leg, or tack, of the course of a ship beating to windward.

11. Railroads. a fixed signal or permanent sign regulating traffic.

12. a flat surface, as a wall or an object of rectangular shape, on which something is posted, as notices or stock-market quotations.

    a bulletin board.

13. surfboard.

14. Computers.

    1. circuit board.

    2. plugboard.

15. Electronics. circuit board.

16. a switchboard.

17. Australian.

    1. the area of a woolshed where shearing is done.

    2. a crew of shearers working in a particular woolshed.

    3. sheep about to be sheared.

18. Obsolete. the edge, border, or side of anything.

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verb (used with object)

boards, present (3rd person singular) boarded, past participle, past boarding present participle

1. to cover or close with boards (often followed by up orover ).

   They just boarded up the house and moved away.

   We had to board over the well to keep animals from getting in there.

2. to furnish with meals, or with meals and lodging, especially for pay.

   They boarded him for $50 a week.

3. to go on board of or enter (a ship, train, etc.).

4. to allow on board.

   We will be boarding passengers in approximately ten minutes.

5. to come up alongside (a ship), as to attack or to go on board.

   The pirate ship boarded the clipper.

6. Obsolete. to approach; accost.

verb (used without object)

boards, present (3rd person singular) boarded, past participle, past boarding present participle

1. to take one's meals, or be supplied with food and lodging at a fixed price.

   Several of us board at the same rooming house.

2. Ice Hockey. to hit an opposing player with a board check.

idioms

1. on the boards, in the theatrical profession.

   The family has been on the boards since grandfather's time.

2. tread the boards. tread.

3. go by the board,

   1. to go over the ship's side.

   2. to be destroyed, neglected, or forgotten.

      All his devoted labor went by the board.

4. across the board,

   1. Racing. betting on a horse or dog to finish first, second, or third, so that any result where a selection wins, places, or shows enables the bettor to collect.

   2. applying to or affecting every person, class, group, etc.

5. on board, Also

   1. on or in a ship, plane, or other vehicle.

      There were several movie stars on board traveling incognito.

   2. Baseball. on base.

      There were two men on board as the next batter came up.

   3. present and functioning as a member of a team or organization.

   4. in agreement; aligned (usually followed bywith ).

      If we want to achieve our goals, we have to get the CEO on board with our plan.

board British  

/ bɔːd /

noun

1. a long wide flat relatively thin piece of sawn timber

2. 1. a smaller flat piece of rigid material for a specific purpose

      ironing board

   2. ( in combination )

      breadboard

      cheeseboard

3. a person's food or meals, provided regularly for money or sometimes as payment for work done (esp in the phrases full board, board and lodging )

4. archaic a table, esp one used for eating at, and esp when laden with food

5. 1. (sometimes functioning as plural) a group of people who officially administer a company, trust, etc

      a board of directors

   2. ( as modifier )

      a board meeting

6. any other committee or council

   a board of interviewers

7. (plural) the acting profession; the stage

8. short for blackboard chessboard notice board printed circuit board springboard surfboard

9. stiff cardboard or similar material covered with paper, cloth, etc, used for the outside covers of a book

10. a flat thin rectangular sheet of composite material, such as plasterboard or chipboard

11. 1. a list on which stock-exchange securities and their prices are posted

    2. informal the stock exchange itself

12. nautical

    1. the side of a ship

    2. the leg that a sailing vessel makes on a beat to windward

13. the part of the floor of a sheep-shearing shed, esp a raised part, where the shearers work

14. the killing floor of an abattoir or freezing works

15. 1. any of various portable surfaces specially designed for indoor games such as chess, backgammon, etc

    2. ( as modifier )

       board games

16. 1. a set of hands in duplicate bridge

    2. a wooden or metal board containing four slots, or often nowadays, a plastic wallet, in which the four hands are placed so that the deal may be replayed with identical hands

17. the hull of a sailboard, usually made of plastic, to which the mast is jointed and on which a windsurfer stands

18. See above board

19. to be in disuse, neglected, or lost

    in these days courtesy goes by the board

20. on or in a ship, boat, aeroplane, or other vehicle

21. 1. (in gambling) to win all the cards or money

    2. to win every event or prize in a contest

22. to accept (new ideas, situations, theories, etc)

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verb

1. to go aboard (a vessel, train, aircraft, or other vehicle)

2. nautical to come alongside (a vessel) before attacking or going aboard

3. to attack (a ship) by forcing one's way aboard

4. (tr; often foll by up, in, etc) to cover or shut with boards

5. (intr) to give or receive meals or meals and lodging in return for money or work

6. (sometimes foll by out) to receive or arrange for (someone, esp a child) to receive food and lodging away from home, usually in return for payment

board More Idioms  

1. see across the board; back to the drawing board; bed and board; bulletin board; by the board; go overboard; on board; open and aboveboard; room and board; stiff as a board; tread the boards.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• reboard
  verb (used with object)
• boardable
  adjective
• boardlike
  adjective
• unboarded
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• boards
  plural

Participles

• boarding
  present
• boarded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• board
  simple
• boards
  simple
• have boarded
  perfect
• has boarded
  perfect
• am boarding
  progressive
• are boarding
  progressive
• is boarding
  progressive
• have been boarding
  perfect progressive
• has been boarding
  perfect progressive

Past

• boarded
  simple
• had boarded
  perfect
• was boarding
  progressive
• were boarding
  progressive
• had been boarding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will board
  simple
• will have boarded
  perfect
• will be boarding
  progressive
• will have been boarding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of board

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English bord “board, table, shield”; cognate with Dutch boord “board,” bord “plate,” German Bort, Old Norse borth, Gothic -baurd

Explanation

A board is a plank or surface, sometimes having buttons or controls. You can cut vegetables on a cutting board, post a flyer on a bulletin board, or cause a power outage on a circuit board. The word board frequently finds itself as half of a compound word where the action takes place: You stand on a surfboard, type at a keyboard, or lose on a checkerboard. You can also sit on a board, meaning a team, of directors, or board, meaning stay, at a hotel. If you want to leave your hotel, you may board, or climb onto, your hovercraft. Remember: Being stiff as a board is not the same as being bored stiff.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

board boards boarded boarding

They were decades younger than other passengers on board.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

He is attempting to get cross-party consensus on any changes and has held initial talks with the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives in an effort to get them on board.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

He served for years on the Vanguard Group board alongside its founder, John Bogle.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026

The change is intended to hold commercial, industrial and institutional property owners accountable for the pollution their sites send flowing into drains, said David Nahai, chair of the L.A. water board.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

Her skirts took up most of the board.

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck

Last month, California Coastkeeper Alliance and other nonprofit groups tried to expand the clean water protections statewide by petitioning six other regional water boards.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

Cracker Barrel’s decision to select a 69-year-old former restaurant executive to lead the chain highlights the emerging practice of boards calling in retired chief executives from the sidelines to help engineer high-profile turnarounds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

China’s Moonshot AI, Kimi K3, wasn’t fully open-weight until late this month but is already ahead of all but two closed models on the usage leader boards.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

Prices are then set by marketing boards in each province, giving farmers a predictable income while providing a consistent domestic supply.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

A raw dirt alley confronted me, heaped with stacks of slates and wooden boards like grave cairns.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

But in February 2025, weeks after Trump’s second inauguration, Romanian authorities lifted the travel restrictions that had kept the Tates in the country, and the pair immediately boarded a private jet to Florida.

From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026

The MT Astana, sailing under a Tanzanian flag, was en route to the port of Bosaso in Puntland, when it was boarded 65 nautical miles off Yemen.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

A group of 20 passengers — mostly family and friends — boarded the boat, called Volare, Tuesday for a memorial service to honor a loved one.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2026

There was no reason to expect his form to dry up the moment he boarded a flight across the Atlantic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

But before long Aunt Kitty whisked us off to the nearest train depot and we boarded a locomotive for New York City.

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

George will now become a boarder, at one of the Eton's 25 boarding houses.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

Following repeated public awareness campaigns, many passengers now ask for one before boarding - something which rarely happens elsewhere in the country.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

My bags were carried up the stairs and my boarding pass was delivered to my seat in the salon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

To boot, prosecutors said, the captain also “reported receiving what he believed were radio calls from the cartel attempting to hail the Aquatravesia prior to a boarding or takeover.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

After boarding the shuttle to town, I went to my favorite spot in the back to catch some shuteye.

From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson

Related Words

• catch
• climb on
• enter
• get on
• hop on