Board

Board, bōrd, n. a broad and thin strip of timber: a table to put food on: food: a table round which persons meet for some kind of business: any council or authorised body of men, as a 'school-board:' the deck of a ship: (pl.) the stage: a kind of thick stiff paper, as in pasteboard, Bristol-board, esp. that used in the binding of books.—v.t. to cover with boards: to supply with food at fixed terms: to enter a ship: to attack.—v.i. to receive food or take meals.—ns. Board′er, one who receives board (food): one who boards a ship; Board′ing, the act of covering with boards: the covering itself: act of boarding a ship; Board′ing-house, a house where boarders are kept; Board′ing-pike, a pike used in boarding a ship, or in defending it when attacked; Board′ing-school, a school in which board is given as well as instruction; Board′-school, a school under control of a school-board, as elected by the Elementary Education Act of 1870.—n.pl. Board′-wā′ges, wages allowed to servants to keep themselves in food.—Above board, openly.—By the board, over the board or side of a ship—hence, To go by the board, to be lost or destroyed.—To sweep the board, to take all the cards. [A.S. bord, a board, the side of a ship; Ice. borð, the side of a ship: conn. either with Bear or with Broad.]