outboard

Etymology

It is formed from English out- + board,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} with board in the sense of the side of a ship,^[5] which is from Old English bord (“border, rim, ship's side”).^[5] The OED compares inboard.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Situated on the outside of a ship: about 1694, in a naval paper by E. Dummer and W. Lee.^[2][3] The 1989 edition of the OED and Etymonline dated the word 1823.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a nautical term,^[4] for things on the outside of a ship, and after 1893 also for things lying outward from its centre line.^[2] From 1909 it was used of a portable motor fixed to the stern of a boat,^[2][5] and it was applied in 1928 to boats driven by such motors.^[2] In the same year it was applied to aircraft, for parts away from the fuselage, and especially for the engine on a wing farthest from it;^[2] Merriam-Webster also applies the adverb to positions near the sides of a car.^[8] The adverb, toward the side of a ship and away from its centre, is recorded from 1837,^[2][3] and the noun, an outboard motor or a boat with one, from 1935.^[2][3][8] From 1973 electronics used it for a device separate from the main system it works with.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1694 – adjective, situated on the outside of a ship.^[2][3]
• 1837 – adverb, outward from the side or the centre of a ship.^[2][3]
• 1893 – situated outward from the centre line of a ship.^[2]
• 1909 – of a motor, portable and attached to the stern of a boat.^[2][5]
• 1928 – situated away from the fuselage of an aircraft.^[2]
• 1935 – noun, an outboard motor, or a boat fitted with one.^[2][3][8]
• 1973 – of an electronic device, separate from the system it is used with.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a boat's engine: portable, with its own propeller, and fixed to the outside of the stern; also, of a boat, driven by such an engine.^[9][2][3]
2. Situated outside the hull of a ship, or away from its centre line.^[9][3][2]
3. Situated away from the fuselage of an aircraft or the centre of a vehicle.^[9][2]
4. Of electronic equipment: separate from the main system; peripheral.^[2][4]

Adverb

1. Outside the hull or toward the side of a ship, away from its centre: The crew swung the boom outboard.^[3][9][2]
2. In a position nearer the wingtips of an aircraft or the sides of a car.^[8][2]

Noun

1. An outboard motor.^[3][2]
2. A boat with an outboard motor.^[3][2]

Related words

• inboard
• overboard
• aboard
• starboard

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins