board

UK/bɔːd/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/boːd/

board noun: a relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making. Also the abbreviation of blackboard.

Noun (1)

board (countable and uncountable, plural boards)

A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making.
- Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
A device (e.g., switchboard) containing electrical switches and other controls and designed to control lights, sound, telephone connections, etc.
A flat surface with markings for playing a board game.
- Each player starts the game with four counters on the board.
A committee that manages the business of an organization, e.g., a board of directors.
- We have to wait to hear back from the board.
(uncountable) Regular meals in a place of lodging; the price paid for them.
- board and lodging
- room and board
The side of a ship.
- Now board to board the rival vessels row.1697, Virgil, “The Fifth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
The distance a sailing vessel runs between tacks when working to windward.
(in plural, often) The wall that surrounds an ice hockey rink.
(archaic) A long, narrow table, like that used in a medieval dining hall.
- Fruit of all kinds […] / She gathers, tribute large, and on the board / Heaps with unsparing hand.1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- The real beginning of the festivities is on Christmas-eve, when the large parties meet their friends from far and near round the festive board.1890, Algernon Blackwood, Christmas in England, Methodist Magazine Volume 32 pg 481.
Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard.
- to bind a book in boards
A level or stage having a particular two-dimensional layout.
- The object of the game is to move the smiley face over the preset board, in doing so removing the green squares and ending up at the exit […]2004, Dan Whitehead, Martyn Carroll, Shaun Bebbington, “Future Shocks”, in Your Sinclair, number 94
- You are able to then change a color candy with any candy around the board, similar to the way you are able to with color bomb candies.2015, Hiddenstuff Entertainment, Candy Crush Soda Saga Game Guide, page 23
The portion of the playing field where creatures or minions can be placed (or played, summoned, etc.).
A container for holding pre-dealt cards that is used to allow multiple sets of players to play the same cards.
(local government) A Philippine provincial or Uruguayan departmental assembly or council.

Verb

board (third-person singular simple present boards, present participle boarding, simple past and past participle boarded)

(transitive) To step or climb onto or otherwise enter a ship, aircraft, train or other conveyance.
- It is time to board the aircraft.
- You board an enemy to capture her, and a stranger to receive news or make a communication.1862, Benjamin J. Totten, Naval Text-Book, and Dictionary, for the use of the Midshipmen of the U.S. Navy
Antonyms:

alight, deboard, disembark
(transitive) To provide someone with meals and lodging, usually in exchange for money.
- to board one’s horse at a livery stable
(transitive) To receive meals and lodging in exchange for money.
- We are several of us, gentlemen and ladies, who board in the same house,February 8, 1712, Charity Frost, The Spectator No. 296 (letter to the editor)
(transitive) To (at least attempt to) capture an enemy ship by going alongside and grappling her, then invading her with a boarding party.
(intransitive) To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation
(archaic, transitive) To approach (someone); to make advances to, accost.
- Ere long with like againe he boorded mee, / Saying, he now had boulted all the floure […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
To cover with boards or boarding.
- to board a house
- the boarded hovel1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC
To hit (someone) with a wooden board.
(transitive) To write something on a board, especially a blackboard or whiteboard.

Noun (2)

board (plural boards)

(informal) A rebound.

Proper noun capitalized: Board

Board (plural Boards)

A surname.

Also used as

board is also the abbreviation of blackboard.

board meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

board in Hindi

long, wide and thin piece of wood or other material: तख़्ता taxtā, तख्ता takhtā, पट्ट paṭṭ
short for blackboard, whiteboard, etc.: बोर्ड borḍ
managing committee: बोर्ड borḍ, मंडल maṇḍal, परिषद pariṣad

board in Urdu

long, wide and thin piece of wood or other material: تَخْتَہ taxta
surface for a board game: تَخْتَہ taxta
short for blackboard, whiteboard, etc.: تَخْتَہ taxta
managing committee: بورْڈ borḍ

board in Bengali

long, wide and thin piece of wood or other material: তক্তা tokta
managing committee: মজলিস mojoliś, পর্ষদ porśod

board in Telugu

long, wide and thin piece of wood or other material: చెక్కబల్ల cekkaballa
short for blackboard, whiteboard, etc.: నల్లబల్ల nallaballa, తెల్లబల్ల tellaballa
managing committee: బోర్డు bōrḍu, సమితి samiti

More languagesFewer languages

board in Malayalam: പലക palaka
board in Kannada: ಬೋರ್ಡ್
board in Odia: ବୋର୍ଡ
board in Nepali: बोर्ड
board in Pashto: تخته taxtá
board in Arabic: لَوْحَة lawḥa, خَشَبَة ḵašaba, لَوْح lawḥ, مَجْلِس majlis
board in Malay: papan
board in Indonesian: panel
board in Thai: กระดาน grà-daan, ขึ้น kʉ̂n
board in Vietnamese: bảng, ván, phiến, lên
board in Myanmar: ပျဉ် pyany, ဘုတ် bhut

Examples of board in a sentence

His board was served by his landlady, the owner of the boarding house. [meals]
His board seemed a bit steep, but he accepted it because the house was clean and his fellow lodgers were respectful neighbors. [price for meals]
"A man," added Cripps, pointing at the MacQuibble, who took no manner of notice, but smoked impassively, "who comes to my hospitable board meanly disguised as an artist, and filches the table wine."1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 17:
“Take your seat at my board, and let me drink to your health.”1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 26:
I have just enough time for a "swifty" in the reopened (but on this day just about to close) '301' bar on Platform 4 before boarding a two-car Northern Class 158 working the 1824 to Leeds.2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 57:

All 40 example sentences with board

Antonyms of board

Forms of board

Noun
plural	boards
alternative form (obsolete)	boord
alternative form (obsolete)	bord
Verb
third-person singular present	boards
present participle	boarding
past participle	boarded
past	boarded
Proper noun
plural	Boards

Past tense of board: boarded

Plural of board: boards

Origin of board

Board (duplicate bridge) From Middle English boord, boorde, bord, bourd, burd, from Old English bord, from Proto-West Germanic *bord, from Proto-Germanic *burdą (“board, plank; edge; table”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰers- (“tip, top”) + *-dʰeti or *bʰerH- (“to pierce; to strike”) + *-dʰeti. The senses "food" and "council" are by metonymy from the sense "table". Cognates Cognate with Scots buird (“board; table”), Yola borde (“table”), West Frisian boerd (“board”), Dutch bord (“dish, plate; board, plank; sign”), boord (“border, boundary; bank, shore”), German Bord (“shelf”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish bord (“plank; table”), Elfdalian buord (“table”), Faroese and Icelandic borð (“board, plank; table”), Gothic *𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (*baurd, “board, plank”) (whence 𐍆𐍉𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (fōtubaurd, “footstool”).

From backboard.

Phrases with board

163 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with board

40 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about board

What does board mean?: Board means a relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making.
What is board in Hindi?: Board in Hindi is तख़्ता (taxtā), तख्ता (takhtā), पट्ट (paṭṭ). See Board meaning in Hindi.
How do you use board in a sentence?: His board was served by his landlady, the owner of the boarding house. [meals]
What part of speech is board?: Board can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce board?: Board is pronounced /bɔːd/ (UK).
What is the plural of board?: The plural of board is boards.

Words near board in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: board (page history and authors); Board (page history and authors); board (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); board (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); board (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-board.ogg.

Cite this entry: “board.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/board. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.