starboard
Americannoun
adjective
adverb
verb (used with or without object)
-
starboards,
present (3rd person singular)
-
starboarded,
past participle, past
-
starboarding
present participle
noun
adjective
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
starboardsimple
-
starboardssimple
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have starboardedperfect
-
has starboardedperfect
-
am starboardingprogressive
-
are starboardingprogressive
-
is starboardingprogressive
-
have been starboardingperfect progressive
-
has been starboardingperfect progressive
Past
-
starboardedsimple
-
had starboardedperfect
-
was starboardingprogressive
-
were starboardingprogressive
-
had been starboardingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of starboard
before 900; Middle English sterbord (noun), Old English stēorbord, equivalent to stēor steering ( see steer 1) + bord side ( see board)
Explanation
The starboard is the right side of a boat or plane. You can also say that anything on the right side of a ship is starboard. This word has to do with direction, specifically direction on a ship. The word originated with sea vessels whose right side was used for steering. Since the stars helped sailors determine direction, this part of the ship became known as the starboard. You can also use starboard as an adjective for anything on the right side of a ship. If you ever ride on a boat, you could probably impress the captain by talking about equipment on the starboard side.
Vocabulary lists containing starboard
The Cay
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"Rogue Wave," Vocabulary from the short story
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Excerpt from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
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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:
“Engine room fire and full of smoke. Unable to assess further damage. All crew are safe and mustered on the starboard side,” the recording said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
MV Lord of the Isles became the latest large vessel out of action when it was pulled from the Oban-Barra route on Tuesday due to a problem with its starboard engine.
From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026
It said the tanker sustained only "minor damage" on the starboard side and that none of the 20-strong crew were hurt.
From Barron's ● Nov. 29, 2025
He ducked back into his cabin but couldn’t find anything, and then he felt the ship roll to starboard and saw water pour through his cabin door.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2025
She was Harison’s counterpart on the starboard watch, the ship’s girl, and not much older than Archer.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
He starboards his helm in order to lay his ship across the course of the enemy.
From Harper's Round Table, September 3, 1895 by Various
At length the Pass is reached; and dashing gallantly across it, the little Sumter starboards her helm and rounds the mud-banks to the eastward!
From The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter by Raphael Semmes
He starboarded his helm and swung round after the rest of the convoy, his ship shaking to successive explosions as more escorting vessels arrived at the spot where he had turned.
From H.M.S. —— by John Graham Bower
Even as he kept the craft under observation she starboarded her helm, shaping a course that would converge upon that of the rearmost of the two tramps.
From The Submarine Hunters A Story of the Naval Patrol Work in the Great War by Edward S. Hodgson
The steersman starboarded the helm, and the Swift went off at an angle to her former course, whilst the canister, on reaching the water, flared out in a brilliant blaze in the ship’s former wake.
From The Golden Rock by Ernest Glanville
They starboarded or ported their helm, tacked through a crowd, or wore the ship round, in a most amusing way.
From George Alfred Henty The Story of an Active Life by George Manville Fenn
The Russian wheelsman peered over the barricade and took his orders from the leader; the ship ported and starboarded, then steadied with clumsy steering.
From The Ice Pilot by Henry Leverage
She was steering straight for the Isle of Grain, and showed no intention of starboarding her helm so as to get on a proper course up the Medway.
From King's Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855 by E. Keble (Edward Keble) Chatterton
But owing to the whale's starboarding his helm a little we were much the nearest to him.
From Harper's Round Table, May 7, 1895 by Various
She is starboarding her helm to go astern of us.
From The Queen's Cup by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
