Board

n. [A-S. bord, board, table, brim, bank, Icel., Sw., & Dan. bord, D. bord and boord, Ger. bord, bort, Goth. baurd. Cf. A-S. bred, board, plank, table, from the root of brād, broad, Sw. bräde, plank, and brädd, border, bank, brim, Dan. brædt, plank, and bred, breddle, edge, brim, border, Ger. Bret, plank, board.] 1. A piece of timber sawed thin, and of considerable length and breadth compared with the thickness, used for building and other purposes. When very thick, as over one and a half or two inches, it is usually called a plank. In the South-western States, the term plank is applied to all sawed stuff, and the term board is limited to short strips of wood riven from blocks and differing little, except in size, from shingles. Bartlett. 2. A table to put food upon. The term board answers to the modern table, but it was often movable, and placed on trestles. Halliwell. Fruit of all kinds . . . She gathers, tribute large, and on the board Heaps with unsparing hand. Milton.

3. Hence, what is served on a table or board as food; stated meals; provision; food; entertainment; usually as furnished for pay; as, to work for one's board; the price of board.
4. A table at which a council or court is held; hence a council, convened for business, or any authorized assembly or meeting; a constituted body of directors, trustees, commissioners, &c.

Both better acquainted with affairs than any other who sat then at that board. Clarendon. We may judge from their letters to the board. Porteus.

5. (Naut.) (a.) The deck of a vessel; also, the interior of a vessel, as in the phrases on board, aboard, on board a ship, i. e., in the ship. (b.) The side of a ship. [Fr. bord, Sp. borda.] “Now board to board the rival vessels row.” Dryden. (c.) The line over which a ship runs between tack and tack.
6. A table or frame for a game; as, a chess-board.
7. Pasteboard; paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book-covers, and other uses.
8. (pl.) The stage in a theater; as, to go upon the boards, to leave the boards, to enter upon or leave the theatrical profession.

Board and board (Naut.), side by side. — By the board, over the board, or side. “The mast went by the board.” Totten. Hence (Fig.), to go by the board, to suffer complete destruction. — Overboard, over the side; as, to leap overboard. — To make a good board, to sail in a straight line when close-hauled; to lose little to leeward. — To make short boards, to tack frequently.