floorboard

American  

[flawr-bawrd, flohr-bohrd] / ˈflɔrˌbɔrd, ˈfloʊrˌboʊrd /

noun

1. any of the boards composing a floor.

2. the floor of an automotive vehicle.

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verb (used with object)

1. floor.

floorboard British  

/ ˈflɔːˌbɔːd /

noun

1. one of the boards forming a floor

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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

First recorded in 1880–85; floor + board

Example Sentences

The feet dance in the cramped space above the floorboard, stabbing between clutch, gas and brake.

From Washington Times • Dec. 14, 2023

Rod Bernstein was rifling through the attic of his house in D.C.’s Kalorama neighborhood when, from under a floorboard, he pulled out a note.

From Washington Post • Mar. 10, 2023

Farmington Police later released photos showing a handgun found on the floorboard of the vehicle.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 8, 2023

The sidewalk fossils felt intimate — the paleontological equivalent of a raft of letters secreted away beneath a floorboard.

From New York Times • Jan. 31, 2023

Mr. Frost put his hand down into the empty space where the floorboard had been.

From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman