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lapboard

American  
[lap-bawrd, -bohrd] / ˈlæpˌbɔrd, -ˌboʊrd /

noun

  1. a thin, flat board to be held on the lap for use as a table or writing surface.


lapboard British  
/ ˈlæpˌbɔːd /

noun

  1. a flat board that can be used on the lap as a makeshift table or desk

"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

Etymology

Origin of lapboard

First recorded in 1830–40; lap 1 + board

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.

See Examples For:

Nice additional touches: the lapboard features a magnetic design that prevents mouse slippage, and Razer estimates the lapboard’s battery life at 4 months, and the mouse’s 1000mAh Li-Po battery should deliver 40 hours of continuous use.

From Forbes Jan. 6, 2015

Only once had he set Cropsie and his lapboard literature aside, and followed his own impulse.

From A Romance of Billy-Goat Hill by Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice

She rushed in to where her father was writing on a lapboard across the arms of his chair.

From Janice Day the Young Homemaker by Helen Beecher Long

The employer supplies a screw block or vice for gripping the bottom and cover sticks of square work, and a lapboard on which the workman fixes the upsetted bottom while siding up the basket.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3 "Banks" to "Bassoon" by Various

He lays aside the lapboard whereon he drafts his bills of costs for the eyes of master Goff and master Shapland Tandy, filing consents and common searches and a writ of Duces Tecum.

From Ulysses by James Joyce

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