board

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /bɔːd/, US /bɔːrd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bord, inherited from Old English bord (“plank; table; shield; ship's side”),^[2][3][4] which combines two originally distinct Germanic words,^[5][4] Proto-Germanic *burdą (“board, plank”) and a word for “border, rim, ship's side”.^[3][5][4] Etymonline notes that the two were confused so early in most Germanic languages that they practically form one word, if they were not one all along.^[3] Cognates include Old Norse borð (“plank, table, ship's side”), Dutch bord and Bord (“edge, ship's side”),^[2][3][6] and Gothic has fōtubaúrd, “footstool”.^[2][3][6] In Middle English the word was reinforced by Old French bort (“edge, ship's side”) and Old Norse borð, “table”.^[4][7][2] Barnhart and Klein trace it to Proto-Indo-European *bherdh- (“to cut”).^[2][6] It is related to border and starboard.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English bord meant a table, a shield and the side of a ship from about 725,^[2] and a board or plank from about 1000, in Ælfric's version of Genesis.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense “table” led to “food served at a table” in the early 14th century, especially daily meals provided for pay.^[3] A table for council meetings gave the sense “body of persons managing a business or institution”, recorded from 1576.^[9][10] A board for games such as chess is from 1474,^[8][9] and a noticeboard from about 1340.^[8] The stiff covers of a book are boards from 1533,^[9] and the theatre stage from 1768.^[8] Above board, from the late 16th century, refers to card players keeping their hands above the table so as not to cheat.^[10] The verb meant “to come alongside a ship”, usually to attack it, from the mid-15th century,^[3][8] and “to go on board” from 1597;^[8] it was extended to trains, coaches and later aircraft in the mid-19th century.^[3][8] “To be supplied with meals and lodging” is from the 1550s,^[3] or 1556 in the Historical Thesaurus.^[9] Across the board comes from horse racing.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English bord, table, shield, ship's side.^[2]
• c. 1000 – a plank.^[2][8]
• early 14th century – meals, food.^[3]
• c. 1340 – a noticeboard.^[8]
• mid-15th century – verb, to come alongside a ship.^[3]
• 1474 – a board for games.^[8]
• 1533 – the covers of a book.^[9]
• 1556 – verb, to take meals and lodging.^[9]
• 1576 – a governing body.^[9]
• 1597 – verb, to go on board.^[8]
• 1768 – the stage.^[8]
• 1848 – verb, to board a train or vehicle.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A long, flat piece of sawn timber; a plank.
2. A flat piece of wood or other rigid material made for a special purpose, as for a game or notices.
3. The hard cover of a book.
4. (the boards) The theatre stage.
5. Daily meals, especially those provided for pay: room and board.
6. A group of people who manage or direct an organization: board of directors.
7. The side of a ship, as in on board, in or on a ship or vehicle.

Verb

1. To cover or close with boards.
2. To provide with, or receive, meals and lodging for pay.
3. To go on board a ship, train, aircraft or other vehicle.
4. To come alongside a ship, usually to attack it.

Word family

• boardlike
• boardable
• boarding house
• boarding pass
• boarding school

Related words

• border
• starboard
• larboard
• aboard
• boardroom
• overboard
• cupboard

Usage notes

In the coal-mining districts of Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire a board was a working passage in a coal pit.^[11]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)