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To go by the board

Go \Go\, v. i. [imp. Went (w[e^]nt); p. p. Gone (g[o^]n; 115); p. pr. & vb. n. Going. Went comes from the AS, wendan. See Wend, v. i.] [OE. gan, gon, AS. g[=a]n, akin to D. gaan, G. gehn, gehen, OHG. g[=e]n, g[=a]n, SW. g[*a], Dan. gaae; cf. Gr. kicha`nai to reach, overtake, Skr. h[=a] to go, AS. gangan, and E. gang. The past tense in AS., eode, is from the root i to go, as is also Goth. iddja went. [root]47a. Cf. Gang, v. i., Wend.]

  1. To pass from one place to another; to be in motion; to be in a state not motionless or at rest; to proceed; to advance; to make progress; -- used, in various applications, of the movement of both animate and inanimate beings, by whatever means, and also of the movements of the mind; also figuratively applied.

  2. To move upon the feet, or step by step; to walk; also, to walk step by step, or leisurely.

    Note: In old writers go is much used as opposed to run, or ride. ``Whereso I go or ride.''
    --Chaucer.

    You know that love Will creep in service where it can not go.
    --Shak.

    Thou must run to him; for thou hast staid so long that going will scarce serve the turn.
    --Shak.

    He fell from running to going, and from going to clambering upon his hands and his knees.
    --Bunyan.

    Note: In Chaucer go is used frequently with the pronoun in the objective used reflexively; as, he goeth him home.

  3. To be passed on fron one to another; to pass; to circulate; hence, with for, to have currency; to be taken, accepted, or regarded.

    The man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.
    --1 Sa. xvii. 12.

    [The money] should go according to its true value.
    --Locke.

  4. To proceed or happen in a given manner; to fare; to move on or be carried on; to have course; to come to an issue or result; to succeed; to turn out.

    How goes the night, boy ?
    --Shak.

    I think, as the world goes, he was a good sort of man enough.
    --Arbuthnot.

    Whether the cause goes for me or against me, you must pay me the reward.
    --I Watts.

  5. To proceed or tend toward a result, consequence, or product; to tend; to conduce; to be an ingredient; to avail; to apply; to contribute; -- often with the infinitive; as, this goes to show.

    Against right reason all your counsels go.
    --Dryden.

    To master the foul flend there goeth some complement knowledge of theology.
    --Sir W. Scott.

  6. To apply one's self; to set one's self; to undertake.

    Seeing himself confronted by so many, like a resolute orator, he went not to denial, but to justify his cruel falsehood.
    --Sir P. Sidney.

    Note: Go, in this sense, is often used in the present participle with the auxiliary verb to be, before an infinitive, to express a future of intention, or to denote design; as, I was going to say; I am going to begin harvest.

  7. To proceed by a mental operation; to pass in mind or by an act of the memory or imagination; -- generally with over or through.

    By going over all these particulars, you may receive some tolerable satisfaction about this great subject.
    --South.

  8. To be with young; to be pregnant; to gestate.

    The fruit she goes with, I pray for heartily, that it may find Good time, and live.
    --Shak.

  9. To move from the person speaking, or from the point whence the action is contemplated; to pass away; to leave; to depart; -- in opposition to stay and come.

    I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the Lord your God; . . . only ye shall not go very far away.
    --Ex. viii. 28.

  10. To pass away; to depart forever; to be lost or ruined; to perish; to decline; to decease; to die.

    By Saint George, he's gone! That spear wound hath our master sped.
    --Sir W. Scott.

  11. To reach; to extend; to lead; as, a line goes across the street; his land goes to the river; this road goes to New York.

    His amorous expressions go no further than virtue may allow.
    --Dryden.

  12. To have recourse; to resort; as, to go to law. Note: Go is used, in combination with many prepositions and adverbs, to denote motion of the kind indicated by the preposition or adverb, in which, and not in the verb, lies the principal force of the expression; as, to go against to go into, to go out, to go aside, to go astray, etc. Go to, come; move; go away; -- a phrase of exclamation, serious or ironical. To go a-begging, not to be in demand; to be undesired. To go about.

    1. To set about; to enter upon a scheme of action; to undertake. ``They went about to slay him.''
      --Acts ix. 29.

      They never go about . . . to hide or palliate their vices.
      --Swift.

    2. (Naut.) To tack; to turn the head of a ship; to wear. To go abraod.

      1. To go to a foreign country.

      2. To go out of doors.

    3. To become public; to be published or disclosed; to be current. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren. --John xxi. 23. To go against.

      1. To march against; to attack.

      2. To be in opposition to; to be disagreeable to. To go ahead.

        1. To go in advance.

        2. To go on; to make progress; to proceed. To go and come. See To come and go, under Come. To go aside.

          1. To withdraw; to retire.

            He . . . went aside privately into a desert place.
            --Luke. ix. 10.

          2. To go from what is right; to err. --Num. v. 29. To go back on.

            1. To retrace (one's path or footsteps).

            2. To abandon; to turn against; to betray. [Slang, U. S.] To go below (Naut), to go below deck. To go between, to interpose or mediate between; to be a secret agent between parties; in a bad sense, to pander. To go beyond. See under Beyond. To go by, to pass away unnoticed; to omit. To go by the board (Naut.), to fall or be carried overboard; as, the mast went by the board. To go down.

              1. To descend.

              2. To go below the horizon; as, the sun has gone down.

      3. To sink; to founder; -- said of ships, etc.

    4. To be swallowed; -- used literally or figuratively. Nothing so ridiculous, . . . but it goes down whole with him for truth. --L' Estrange. To go far.

      1. To go to a distance.

      2. To have much weight or influence. To go for.

        1. To go in quest of.

        2. To represent; to pass for.

      3. To favor; to advocate.

      4. To attack; to assault. [Low]

    5. To sell for; to be parted with for (a price). To go for nothing, to be parted with for no compensation or result; to have no value, efficacy, or influence; to count for nothing. To go forth.

      1. To depart from a place.

      2. To be divulged or made generally known; to emanate. The law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. --Micah iv. 2. To go hard with, to trouble, pain, or endanger. To go in, to engage in; to take part. [Colloq.] To go in and out, to do the business of life; to live; to have free access. --John x. 9. To go in for. [Colloq.]

        1. To go for; to favor or advocate (a candidate, a measure, etc.).

        2. To seek to acquire or attain to (wealth, honor, preferment, etc.)

      3. To complete for (a reward, election, etc.).

      4. To make the object of one's labors, studies, etc. He was as ready to go in for statistics as for anything else. --Dickens. To go in to or To go in unto.

        1. To enter the presence of.
          --Esther iv. 16.

        2. To have sexual intercourse with. [Script.] To go into.

          1. To speak of, investigate, or discuss (a question, subject, etc.).

          2. To participate in (a war, a business, etc.). To go large. (Naut) See under Large. To go off.

            1. To go away; to depart.

              The leaders . . . will not go off until they hear you.
              --Shak.

            2. To cease; to intermit; as, this sickness went off.

        3. To die.
          --Shak.

        4. To explode or be discharged; -- said of gunpowder, of a gun, a mine, etc.

      5. To find a purchaser; to be sold or disposed of.

    6. To pass off; to take place; to be accomplished. The wedding went off much as such affairs do. --Mrs. Caskell. To go on.

      1. To proceed; to advance further; to continue; as, to go on reading.

      2. To be put or drawn on; to fit over; as, the coat will not go on. To go all fours, to correspond exactly, point for point. It is not easy to make a simile go on all fours. --Macaulay. To go out.

        1. To issue forth from a place.

        2. To go abroad; to make an excursion or expedition.

          There are other men fitter to go out than I.
          --Shak.

          What went ye out for to see ?
          --Matt. xi. 7, 8, 9.

      3. To become diffused, divulged, or spread abroad, as news, fame etc.

      4. To expire; to die; to cease; to come to an end; as, the light has gone out. Life itself goes out at thy displeasure. --Addison. To go over.

        1. To traverse; to cross, as a river, boundary, etc.; to change sides.

          I must not go over Jordan.
          --Deut. iv. 22.

          Let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan.
          --Deut. iii. 25.

          Ishmael . . . departed to go over to the Ammonites.
          --Jer. xli. 10.

        2. To read, or study; to examine; to review; as, to go over one's accounts.

          If we go over the laws of Christianity, we shall find that . . . they enjoin the same thing.
          --Tillotson.

        3. To transcend; to surpass.

        4. To be postponed; as, the bill went over for the session.

      5. (Chem.) To be converted (into a specified substance or material); as, monoclinic sulphur goes over into orthorhombic, by standing; sucrose goes over into dextrose and levulose. To go through.

        1. To accomplish; as, to go through a work.

        2. To suffer; to endure to the end; as, to go through a surgical operation or a tedious illness.

        3. To spend completely; to exhaust, as a fortune.

        4. To strip or despoil (one) of his property. [Slang]

        5. To botch or bungle a business. [Scot.] To go through with, to perform, as a calculation, to the end; to complete. To go to ground.

          1. To escape into a hole; -- said of a hunted fox.

          2. To fall in battle. To go to naught (Colloq.), to prove abortive, or unavailling. To go under.

            1. To set; -- said of the sun.

            2. To be known or recognized by (a name, title, etc.).

          3. To be overwhelmed, submerged, or defeated; to perish; to succumb. To go up, to come to nothing; to prove abortive; to fail. To go upon, to act upon, as a foundation or hypothesis. To go with.

            1. To accompany.

            2. To coincide or agree with.

            3. To suit; to harmonize with. To go well with, To go ill with, To go hard with, to affect (one) in such manner. To go without, to be, or to remain, destitute of. To go wrong.

              1. To take a wrong road or direction; to wander or stray.

              2. To depart from virtue.

              3. To happen unfortunately; to unexpectedly cause a mishap or failure.

          4. To miss success; to fail.

            To let go, to allow to depart; to quit one's hold; to release.

To go by the 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.

Usage examples of "to go by the board".

Then, after what seemed like hours, with Ramage waiting for the sails to blow out or the mast to go by the board, the big boom moved over to leeward as the men slacked the sheet, easing the pressure on the mainsail, which had been forcing the cutter's bow up into the wind.

As a rule, this was a time of truce between animals, but the rules were about to go by the board.

The smaller red champion had fastened himself like a vice to his adversary's front, and through all the tumblings on that field never for an instant ceased to gnaw at one of his feelers near the root, having already caused the other to go by the board.