What is "board"

Board \Board\ (b[=o]rd), n. [OE. bord, AS. bord board, shipboard; akin to bred plank, Icel. bor[eth] board, side of a ship, Goth. f[=o]tu-baurd footstool, D. bord board, G. brett, bort. See def. 8. [root]92.]

1. A piece of timber sawed thin, and of considerable length and breadth as compared with the thickness, -- used for building, etc.

   Note: When sawed thick, as over one and a half or two inches, it is usually called a plank.

2. A table to put food upon.

   Note: The term board answers to the modern table, but it was often movable, and placed on trestles.
   --Halliwell.

   Fruit of all kinds . . . She gathers, tribute large, and on the board Heaps with unsparing hand.
   --Milton.

3. Hence: What is served on a table as food; stated meals; provision; entertainment; -- usually as furnished for pay; as, to work for one's board; the price of board.

4. A table at which a council or court is held. Hence: A council, convened for business, or any authorized assembly or meeting, public or private; a number of persons appointed or elected to sit in council for the management or direction of some public or private business or trust; as, the Board of Admiralty; a board of trade; a board of directors, trustees, commissioners, etc.

   Both better acquainted with affairs than any other who sat then at that board.
   --Clarendon.

   We may judge from their letters to the board.
   --Porteus.

5. A square or oblong piece of thin wood or other material used for some special purpose, as, a molding board; a board or surface painted or arranged for a game; as, a chessboard; a backgammon board.

6. Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard; as, to bind a book in boards.

7. pl. The stage in a theater; as, to go upon the boards, to enter upon the theatrical profession.

8. [In this use originally perh. a different word meaning border, margin; cf. D. boord, G. bord, shipboard, and G. borte trimming; also F. bord (fr. G.) the side of a ship. Cf. Border.] The border or side of anything. (Naut.)

   1. The side of a ship. ``Now board to board the rival vessels row.''
      --Dryden. See On board, below.

   2. The stretch which a ship makes in one tack. Note: Board is much used adjectively or as the last part of a compound; as, fir board, clapboard, floor board, shipboard, sideboard, ironing board, chessboard, cardboard, pasteboard, seaboard; board measure. The American Board, a shortened form of ``The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions'' (the foreign missionary society of the American Congregational churches). Bed and board. See under Bed. Board and board (Naut.), side by side. Board of control, six privy councilors formerly appointed to superintend the affairs of the British East Indies. --Stormonth. Board rule, a figured scale for finding without calculation the number of square feet in a board. --Haldeman. Board of trade, in England, a committee of the privy council appointed to superintend matters relating to trade. In the United States, a body of men appointed for the advancement and protection of their business interests; a chamber of commerce. Board wages.

      1. Food and lodging supplied as compensation for services; as, to work hard, and get only board wages.

      2. Money wages which are barely sufficient to buy food and lodging.

   3. A separate or special allowance of wages for the procurement of food, or food and lodging. --Dryden. By the board, over the board, or side. ``The mast went by the board.'' --Totten. Hence (Fig.), To go by the board, to suffer complete destruction or overthrow. To enter on the boards, to have one's name inscribed on a board or tablet in a college as a student. [Cambridge, England.] ``Having been entered on the boards of Trinity college.'' --Hallam. To make a good board (Naut.), to sail in a straight line when close-hauled; to lose little to leeward. To make short boards, to tack frequently. On board.

      1. On shipboard; in a ship or a boat; on board of; as, I came on board early; to be on board ship.

      2. In or into a railway car or train. [Colloq. U. S.]

         Returning board, a board empowered to canvass and make an official statement of the votes cast at an election.

Board \Board\, v. t. [F. aborder. See Abord, v. t.] To approach; to accost; to address; hence, to woo. [Obs.]

I will board her, though she chide as loud As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack.
--Shak.

Board \Board\ (b[=o]rd), v. i. To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation; as, he boards at the hotel.

We are several of us, gentlemen and ladies, who board in the same house.
--Spectator.

Board \Board\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Boarded; p. pr. & vb. n. Boarding.]

1. To cover with boards or boarding; as, to board a house. ``The boarded hovel.''
   --Cowper.

2. [Cf. Board to accost, and see Board, n.] To go on board of, or enter, as a ship, whether in a hostile or a friendly way.

   You board an enemy to capture her, and a stranger to receive news or make a communication.
   --Totten.

3. To enter, as a railway car. [Colloq. U. S.]

4. To furnish with regular meals, or with meals and lodgings, for compensation; to supply with daily meals.

5. To place at board, for compensation; as, to board one's horse at a livery stable.

verb senses derived from various senses of board (n.1) and board (n.2) include "come alongside" (a ship), mid-15c. (from n.2); "put boards on, frame with boards," late 14c. (implied in boarded, from n.1); "\nto get onto" (a ship), 1590s, transferred from mid-19c. to stages, railway cars, aircraft, etc. (from n.2). Meaning "to be supplied with food and lodging" is from 1550s (from n.1 in transferred sense). Transitive meaning "provide with daily meals and lodging" is from 1590s. Related: Boarded; boarding.\n

Old English bord "a plank, flat surface," from Proto-Germanic *burdam (cognates: Old Norse borð "plank," Dutch bord "board," Gothic fotu-baurd "foot-stool," German Brett "plank"), from PIE *bhrdh- "board," from root *bherdh- "to cut." See also board (n.2), with which this is so confused as practically to form one word (if indeed they were not the same word all along).\n

\nA board is thinner than a plank, and generally less than 2.5 inches thick. The transferred meaning "food" (late 14c.) is an extension of the late Old English sense of "table" (compare boarder, boarding); hence, also, above board "honest, open" (1610s). A further extension is to "table where council is held" (1570s), then transferred to "leadership council, council (that meets at a table)," 1610s.

"side of ship," Old English bord "border, rim, ship's side," from Proto-Germanic *bordaz (cognates: Old Saxon bord, Dutch boord, German Bord, Old High German bart, Old Norse barð), perhaps from the same source as board (n.1), but not all sources accept this. Connected to border; see also starboard.\n

\nIf not etymologically related to board (n.1), the two forms represented in English by these words were nonetheless confused at an early date in most Germanic languages, a situation made worse in English because this Germanic root also was adopted as Medieval Latin bordus (source of Italian and Spanish bordo). It also entered Old French as bort "beam, board, plank; side of a ship" (12c., Modern French bord), either from Medieval Latin or Frankish, and from thence it came over with the Normans to mingle with its native cousins. By now the senses are inextricably tangled. Some etymology dictionaries treat them as having been the same word all along.

Etymology 1 n. A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To step or climb onto or otherwise enter a ship, aircraft, train or other conveyance. 2 (context transitive English) To provide someone with meals and lodging, usually in exchange for money. 3 (context transitive English) To receive meals and lodging in exchange for money. 4 (context transitive nautical English) To capture an enemy ship by going alongside and grappling her, then invading her with a boarding party 5 (context intransitive English) To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation 6 (context transitive now rare English) To approach (someone); to make advances to, accost. 7 To cover with boards or boarding. 8 To hit (someone) with a wooden board. Etymology 2

n. (context basketball informal English) A rebound.

1. v. get on board of (trains, buses, ships, aircraft, etc.) [syn: get on] [ant: get off]

2. live and take one's meals at or in; "she rooms in an old boarding house" [syn: room]

3. lodge and take meals (at)

4. provide food and lodging (for); "The old lady is boarding three men"

1. n. a committee having supervisory powers; "the board has seven members"

2. a flat piece of material designed for a special purpose; "he nailed boards across the windows"

3. a stout length of sawn timber; made in a wide variety of sizes and used for many purposes [syn: plank]

4. a board on which information can be displayed to public view [syn: display panel, display board]

5. a flat portable surface (usually rectangular) designed for board games; "he got out the board and set up the pieces" [syn: gameboard]

6. food or meals in general; "she sets a fine table"; "room and board" [syn: table]

7. electrical device consisting of an insulated panel containing switches and dials and meters for controlling other electrical devices; "he checked the instrument panel"; "suddenly the board lit up like a Christmas tree" [syn: control panel, instrument panel, control board, panel]

8. a printed circuit that can be inserted into expansion slots in a computer to increase the computer's capabilities [syn: circuit board, circuit card, card]

9. a table at which meals are served; "he helped her clear the dining table"; "a feast was spread upon the board" [syn: dining table]

Board or Boards may refer to:

[[, duplicate bridge (1).png|thumb|left|180px|

Rectangular aluminum board

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[[Image:Board.jpg|thumb|left|180px|

Leather or pliable plastic wallet-style board

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In duplicate bridge, a board is an item of equipment that holds one deal, or one deck of 52 cards distributed in four hands of 13 cards each. The design permits the entire deal of four hands to be passed, carried or stacked securely with the cards hidden from view in four pockets. This is required for duplicate bridge tournaments, where the same deal is played several times and so the composition of each hand must be preserved during and after each play of each deal.

[[Image:Bridge boards box.jpg|thumb|left|250px|

Stacked plastic boards with cards inserted

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Each board is usually marked with the following information: board number – (from '1' to as high as '36') identifies the deal and helps to order the play of multiple deals; compass directions – used to match the four hands to the four players at a table; dealer – designates which player is the "dealer"; this designates the player who is to make the first call of the auction; vulnerability – often represented by color code: a "vulnerable" partnership is usually shown in red and a "not vulnerable" partnership in green, white or no color. Most designs include a slot or pocket to hold a paper travelling score sheet.

Colloquially, the term board may refer to one deal plus its bidding and play. When bridge is played online, there are no physical boards, nor physical cards, but the software emulates all of the features of duplicate boards and the unit of the game is commonly called a board.