backboard
Syllables: back·board
backboard noun: the flat vertical surface to which the basket is attached.
Noun (1)
backboard (plural backboards)
- The flat vertical surface to which the basket is attached.
- A flat vertical wall with the image of a tennis net drawn or painted on it, designed to practice hitting against such that the ball rebounds.
- A spine board.
- A board placed at the back of a cart, boat, behind a signal, etc.
- The L.B.S.C.R. favoured backboards for signals wherever these helped visibility. The Great Eastern also made extensive use of backboards.1957 June, S. C. Crowther-Smith, “Lower Quadrant”, in Railway Magazine, page 422
- He […]had ridden the remainder of the way clinging to the backboard of a cotton wagon.1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC
Verb
backboard (third-person singular simple present backboards, present participle backboarding, simple past and past participle backboarded)
- To place (a patient) on a spine board.
Noun (2)
backboard (usually uncountable, plural backboards)
- The port or larboard side of a ship
- And to delight in the fact that a hole on the backboard side means that you're safe because you're sitting on the starboard side seems to me to be less than clever.2013, Klaus Backhaus, Hurdle Race Marketing
- But the gangplank was no longer in place. It had folded itself in half and clamped into storage position, becoming part of the starboard rail. Big Tom peered over the rail and saw nothing but sea. All around. Starboard, backboard, forward, aft.2014, Jeff Bredenberg, The Dream Vessel
- Antonyms:
- starboard
Synonyms of backboard
Antonyms
Forms of backboard
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | backboards |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | backboards |
| present participle | backboarding |
| past participle | backboarded |
| past | backboarded |
Origin of backboard
From back + board.
Likely a borrowing from Dutch bakboord (“portside”) or from Middle Low German backbort, bakbōrt (“portside”). Old English bæcbord (“larboard, portside”) did not survive (in that form) into Middle English; Scottish texts of the 1500s have forms like bawbord, baburd and babord, possibly borrowed from French bâbord; later texts with Scots backburd, backber may have borrowed it from Old Norse bakborði (“portside”). Cognate with West Frisian bakboard (“portside”), German Backbord (“portside”), Danish bagbord (“portside”).
Questions about backboard
- What does backboard mean?
- Backboard means the flat vertical surface to which the basket is attached.
- What part of speech is backboard?
- Backboard can be a noun or a verb.
- What is the plural of backboard?
- The plural of backboard is backboards.
Words near backboard in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: backboard (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-backboard.wav.
Cite this entry: “backboard.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/backboard. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.