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

Investigators found two cellphones in the car — one between Ellis’s arm and hip, which they said was his, and a second one on the front passenger floorboard.

From Washington Post • Mar. 16, 2023

I raced Matchbox cars in the floorboard on those trips.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 14, 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

“We have a great at-home piece that is going to engage families to get together and is not just a take-home paper that gets thrown on the floorboard of the car.”

From Washington Times • May 18, 2022

He reached down to a short length of floorboard and pushed at it until he was able to lever it out.

From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman