What is "board of trade"

Trade \Trade\, n. [Formerly, a path, OE. tred a footmark. See Tread, n. & v.]

1. A track; a trail; a way; a path; also, passage; travel; resort. [Obs.]

   A postern with a blind wicket there was, A common trade to pass through Priam's house.
   --Surrey.

   Hath tracted forth some salvage beastes trade.
   --Spenser.

   Or, I'll be buried in the king's highway, Some way of common trade, where subjects' feet May hourly trample on their sovereign's head.
   --Shak.

2. Course; custom; practice; occupation; employment. [Obs.] ``The right trade of religion.''
   --Udall.

   There those five sisters had continual trade.
   --Spenser.

   Long did I love this lady, Long was my travel, long my trade to win her.
   --Massinger.

   Thy sin's not accidental but a trade.
   --Shak.

3. Business of any kind; matter of mutual consideration; affair; dealing. [Obs.]

   Have you any further trade with us?
   --Shak.

4. Specifically: The act or business of exchanging commodities by barter, or by buying and selling for money; commerce; traffic; barter.

   Note: Trade comprehends every species of exchange or dealing, either in the produce of land, in manufactures, in bills, or in money; but it is chiefly used to denote the barter or purchase and sale of goods, wares, and merchandise, either by wholesale or retail. Trade is either foreign or domestic. Foreign trade consists in the exportation and importation of goods, or the exchange of the commodities of different countries. Domestic, or home, trade is the exchange, or buying and selling, of goods within a country. Trade is also by the wholesale, that is, by the package or in large quantities, generally to be sold again, or it is by retail, or in small parcels. The carrying trade is the business of transporting commodities from one country to another, or between places in the same country, by land or water.

5. The business which a person has learned, and which he engages in, for procuring subsistence, or for profit; occupation; especially, mechanical employment as distinguished from the liberal arts, the learned professions, and agriculture; as, we speak of the trade of a smith, of a carpenter, or mason, but not now of the trade of a farmer, or a lawyer, or a physician.

   Accursed usury was all his trade.
   --Spenser.

   The homely, slighted, shepherd's trade.
   --Milton.

   I will instruct thee in my trade.
   --Shak.

6. Instruments of any occupation. [Obs.]

   The house and household goods, his trade of war.
   --Dryden.

7. A company of men engaged in the same occupation; thus, booksellers and publishers speak of the customs of the trade, and are collectively designated as the trade.

8. pl. The trade winds.

9. Refuse or rubbish from a mine. [Prov. Eng.]

   Syn: Profession; occupation; office; calling; avocation; employment; commerce; dealing; traffic.

   Board of trade. See under Board.

   Trade dollar. See under Dollar.

   Trade price, the price at which goods are sold to members of the same trade, or by wholesale dealers to retailers.

   Trade sale, an auction by and for the trade, especially that of the booksellers.

   Trade wind, a wind in the torrid zone, and often a little beyond at, which blows from the same quarter throughout the year, except when affected by local causes; -- so called because of its usefulness to navigators, and hence to trade.

   Note: The general direction of the trade winds is from N. E. to S. W. on the north side of the equator, and from S. E. to N. W. on the south side of the equator. They are produced by the joint effect of the rotation of the earth and the movement of the air from the polar toward the equatorial regions, to supply the vacancy caused by heating, rarefaction, and consequent ascent of the air in the latter regions. The trade winds are principally limited to two belts in the tropical regions, one on each side of the equator, and separated by a belt which is characterized by calms or variable weather.

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 of Trade may refer to:

• Chamber of commerce

The Board of Trade, originally the Lords of Trade or Lords of Trade and Plantations, is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, first established as a temporary committee of inquiry in the 17th century that evolved gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions. This department was merged with the Ministry of Technology in 1970 to form the Department of Trade and Industry. The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (from 2009 Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills) was also President of the Board of Trade. The full Board has met only once since the mid-20th century, during commemorations of the bicentenary of the Board in 1986. In 2016 the role of President of the Board of Trade was transferred to the Secretary of State for International Trade.