boardsman

Noun

boardsman (plural boardsmen)

1. (dated) A member (especially male) of a board (governing body).
   • In certain instances we were estranged from denominational boardsmen by their sensitivity to professional prerogative.1966, C. Stanley Lowell, Embattled Wall: Americans United, an Idea and a Man
   • The members elected for the consolidated school system were often boardsmen from the parent school systems.1972, Richard O. Carlson, School Superintendents: Careers and Performance, Merrill Publishing Company

   Synonyms:

   board member

2. A surfer.
   • The first Endless Summer was partially a surfing documentary and partially a travelog, but it was organized around the quest for the perfect beach, which the intrepid boardsmen finally found at the film's end.1995, The Laser Disc Newsletter
   • Only the missing boardsman, Sam Meyers, had a real job. How did these young men fund their passion? Surfing in Acapulco costs money.2007, Nora Charles, Death Rides the Surf, Penguin, →ISBN
3. A record producer; one who works a mixing board.
   • Brooklyn's THE BAD SEED getsa potentially dangerous production assist from Virginia boardsman Nottz, who resuscitates the Depression-era chorus technique he laced Busta Rhymes with on "Get Out!!"2000, Vibe, page 169
   • The production from Miami-based boardsman Red Spyda is punchier, G-Unit's faux Last Poets-style ad libs gleefully interact with Big, and 50 freely flaunts his outlaw-cum-favored-son status2003, Cheo Hodari Coker, Unbelievable: The Life, Death, and Afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G., →ISBN
4. (dated) A high diver.
   • High divers Wilf Bacon, who holds the B.C. indoor crown, and Bernie McHale supplied thrilling samples of what aquatic fans will see, when the province's best boardsmen vie for honors at the Jaycee Regatta next month.1949, July 20, The Chilliwack Progress, page 15
   • In the diving competition, ace boardsman Dan Troost fell into second spot by three points as the senior hit his hand and head on the board in his final dive, breaking a small bone in his hand.1971, February 8, The Holland Evening Sentinel, page 2
5. A basketball player who excels at rebounds.
   • The overall record for the team was also broken that night when the Royal boardsmen grabbed 71 bouncebacks.1958, February 21, Pittston Gazette, page 6
   • Willie Murrell, the fluid 6-6 frontliner, is the ’Cats No. 1 point producer with an 18.3 average. His 9.1 mark also tops the boardsmen.1963, January 12, The Kansas City Times, page 23
6. A sailor on a smack whose job is to bait and shoot the lines
   • Earley in the morning there was an altercation between some of the Boardsmen and one of the Ships Corperals.1865 February 20, William Benjamin Gould, Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor, page 223
   • Why, blast, I mind when I wor boardsman o' the Rose of Sharon. The mate, I f 'rget his name, went hoom unexpected-like one night and found a man in bed 'long o' his old woman.1948, George Goldsmith Carter, The smacksmen: a story of the fishermen of the Borough
7. One who rides on the boards of a log canoe in order to balance it.
   • By adjusting their position on the boards, the crew can compensate for subtle changes in wind and course. One wrong move may be enough to send everyone into the drink, so the job of the boardsman is a tricky one.1984 July 2, The Star-Democrat, Easton, Maryland, page 27
   • Roger Vaughn explains the tack, in relation to the boardsmen, stating: Part of the fun, not to mention exercise, in log canoe sailing smooth crew work with the heavy planks that keep these hulls on their feet or close to it.1989, Nelson Lyles Forbes, The racing log canoe: Ancient traditions alive on the Chesapeake Bay, thesis submitted to Middle Tennessee State University, page 34-36
8. (dated) One who wears a sandwich board.
   • [...] one example of this being the fact that a boardsman has recently been promenading the Strand with a selection of photographs upon his sandwich boards1886, Journal for Amateur Photographers
   • In " Following the Leader " (May 12, 1887), HB has given a fanciful version of the candidate's supporters impressed as boardsmen. O'Connell heads the file, with a placard "Leader for Westminster."1892, Joseph Grego, A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering: From the Stuarts to Queen Victoria

   Synonyms:

   boardman

9. A chess player.
   • Bob took his unspoken initiation in stride; it was a chess game of sorts, and he was in the realm of a master, who, in turn, was son of a master boardsman.2003, Warren Getler, Bob Brewer, Shadow of the Sentinel: One Man's Quest to Find the Hidden Treasure of the Confederacy, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 12
   • On talent alone, Hook confesses, he had no right to such a matchup. No, the way Hook describes the Virgin Island boardsmen, they come off like the chess equivalent of the Jamaican bobsledders who gamed their way into the Olympics (the athletical Olympics, not the chess olympics) by representing a...2009 November 20, Dave McKenna, “Chess Master Reflects on a Life of Queens and Rooks”, in Washington City Paper
10. (dated) A player of draughts/checkers
    • On Tuesday evening draught match was played at the Eastbourne village club. The home team are adept boardsmen [...]1892 March 19, “Midhurst”, in Sussex Agricultural Express, page 5
    • The following match was contested on Wednesday last week, when the Town Club, though without their two top boardsmen, proved far too strong for the soldiers.1911 November 10, “Dover Draughts Club”, in Dover Express, page 5
11. One who assembles the frames of a ship.
    • In this work there are engaged the frameturner, the boardsman or adjuster, and a third man whom we may term the builder.1894 February 14, “Shipbuilders Wages”, in Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, page 2
    • [...] having given out information so that the midship frames could be worked, it had been found that the boardsmen were practically upon the backs of the loftsmen and it had been difficult to keep pace without outside work.1920, North East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Transactions - North East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders
12. (archaic) One who prepares wigs or artificial hair.
    • Wanted; good Gent's Hand; fair Ladies and Boardsman, able to put up plain dressings.1891, July 25, classified advert in South Wales Echo
    • It is unnecessary after this description to remind the young boardsman that no net is put on inside the mount, all the middle portion being left bare.1903, Edwin Creer, Alfred M. Sutton, Boardwork; or, The art of wigmaking, &c: a technical handbook designed for the use of hairdressers, and especially of young men in the trade ...