noun
Usage
What does floorboard mean? A floorboard is one of the usually wooden planks that make up a floor. It usually refers to a board of plywood used to make a subfloor—the rough floor beneath a finished floor. Many houses are constructed using floorboards to create a subfloor, which is then often covered with materials like hardwood, carpet, tile, linoleum, or some form of laminate flooring. The word floorboard means something else in the context of vehicles—it refers to the floor of a car or truck. This sense of the word is the basis of the slang verb floorboard, meaning to press a vehicle’s accelerator (gas pedal) as far down as possible (all the way to the floor) in order to go as fast as possible. The word floor is more commonly used to mean the same thing. Both terms are often followed by it, as in As soon as the light turned green, I floorboarded it so I could get way ahead of all the other cars. Example: I pried up a loose floorboard hoping to find treasure under, but there was just a lot of dust and dirt.
Etymology
Origin of floorboard
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They are also looking for a place where they can safely smash the accelerator pedal into the floorboard.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026
The feet dance in the cramped space above the floorboard, stabbing between clutch, gas and brake.
From Washington Times • Dec. 14, 2023
Officers wrote they also found a pistol on the driver’s side floorboard of his car.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 12, 2023
The department said detectives found a USB charging cord on the driver’s-side floorboard that they believe was used to start the stolen car.
From Washington Post • Jan. 19, 2023
My plan is to bang the end of the stick, which is about the length of Daddy’s walking cane, against each floorboard to see if any of them sound hollow underneath.
From "Fast Pitch" by Nic Stone
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
