Word.ws English Dictionary

on board

on board preposition: on or in (a means of transportation).

on board: on or in (a means of transportation)
Image: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Preposition

on board

  1. On or in (a means of transportation).
    • On board his boat were various firearms but not much food.
    • Even when I am on board the plane, I can never feel secure that my luggage is, too.

Adjective

on board (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic) Joining in or participating.
    • Is that new teammate properly on board yet?
  2. (idiomatic) Agreeing or supporting.
    • It's a good idea, but let's see if we can get a few more of the management team on board.
    • Without management on board, the project has little chance of success.
  3. (idiomatic) Into itself or oneself.
    • Soccer players certainly tend not to take fluids on board.1991, David R. Lamb, Melvin H. Williams, Ergogenics: Enhancement of Performance in Exercise and Sport

Interjection

  1. The stereotypical cry of pirates when boarding a ship for close quarters combat.

on board meaning in Tamil

on board in Tamil

தளத்தினுள், கலத்தக

Examples of on board in a sentence

  • Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board.1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:
  • And so, with the Führer on board, albeit not literally, another six vessels were rapidly placed under conversion.2021 February 17, Drachinifel, 20:52 from the start, in German Merchant Raiders of WW2 - Gentleman Raiders of the High Seas, archived from...

Antonyms of on board

Origin of on board

Originally a literal reference to the wooden boards of the deck of a boat or ship.

Words formed from on board

Questions about on board

What does on board mean?
On board means on or in (a means of transportation).
What is on board in Tamil?
On board in Tamil is தளத்தினுள், கலத்தக. See On board meaning in Tamil.
How do you use on board in a sentence?
Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board.
What part of speech is on board?
On board can be a preposition, an adjective or an interjection.

Words near on board in the dictionary

  1. on base
  2. on behalf of
  3. on bended knee
  4. on Bible
  5. on blast
  6. on board
  7. on book
  8. on brand
  9. on butt
  10. on call
  11. on camera

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on board (page history and authors); on board (Tamil Wiktionary) (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: En-au-on board.ogg.

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