freeboard

[ free-bawrd, -bohrd ]

/ ˈfriˌbɔrd, -ˌboʊrd /

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noun

Nautical.

the distance between the level of the water and the upper surface of the freeboard deck amidships at the side of a hull: regulated by the agencies of various countries according to the construction of the hull, the type of cargo carried, the area of the world in which it sails, the type of water, and the season of the year.Compare load line.
(on a cargo vessel) the distance between the uppermost deck considered fully watertight and the official load line.
the portion of the side of a hull that is above the water.

Civil Engineering. the height of the watertight portion of a building or other construction above a given level of water in a river, lake, etc.

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Origin of freeboard

1670–80; free + board; translation of French franc bord

Words nearby freeboard

freebase, free beach, free bid, freebie, free-blown, freeboard, freeboard deck, freeboard length, freeboot, freebooter, freebooty

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use freeboard in a sentence

Only a few small inches of freeboard lay between the water and the top of my gunwales.
He Divorced Me on Land—but I Left My Marriage on the River|jversteegh|February 1, 2022|Outside Online
With a full cargo she will draw fifteen feet, and have a freeboard of little more than three feet.
McClure's Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2, July, 1893|Various
Davis is contemptuous about her low freeboard forward; says he would rather go to sea in the Dulce.
The Riddle of the Sands|Erskine Childers
She is a craft of some three thousand tons, broad of beam and with plenty of freeboard.
Dave Darrin on Mediterranean Service|H. Irving Hancock

By the time half our company was overboard, the boat had a reasonably high freeboard and was less ticklish to handle in the gusts.
The Jacket (The Star-Rover)|Jack London
It takes honest elbow-muscle, too, to haul ten pounds of floundering cod up five feet of freeboard to the rail and deck.
Pike & Cutlass|George Gibbs

British Dictionary definitions for freeboard

freeboard

/ (ˈfriːˌbɔːd) /

noun

the space or distance between the deck of a vessel and the waterline

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012