springboard

[spring-bawrd, -bohrd]

noun

a flexible board, projecting over water, from which divers leap or spring.

a flexible board used as a takeoff in vaulting, tumbling, etc., to increase the height of leaps.

something that supplies the impetus or conditions for a beginning, change, or progress; a point of departure: a lecture to serve as a springboard for a series of seminars.

verb (used with or without object)

to impel or launch on or as if on a springboard.

Origin of springboard

First recorded in 1865–70; spring + board

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for springboarding

springboard

noun

a flexible board, usually projecting low over the water, used for diving

a similar board used for gaining height or momentum in gymnastics

Australian and NZ a board inserted into the trunk of a tree at some height above the ground on which a lumberjack stands to chop down the tree

anything that serves as a point of departure or initiation

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

Word Origin and History for springboarding

springboard

1799, from spring (v.) + board (n.1).