board

noun

• 1a long, thin, flat piece of wood or other hard material, used for floors or other building purposes:loose boards creaked as I walked on them [mass noun]:sections of board
• (the boards) informal the stage of a theatre: he will be on the boards at Stratford tonight
• (the board) Australian/NZ the part of the floor of a shearing shed where the shearers work.

  [ late 19th century: originally boards running alongside the pens]

• 2a thin, flat piece of wood or other stiff material used for various purposes, in particular:
• a vertical surface on which to write or pin notices: teachers talk and write on the board
• a horizontal surface on which to cut things, play games, or perform other activities: Pete set the pieces out on the board
• a flat insulating sheet used as a mounting for an electronic circuit:a graphics board
• the piece of equipment on which a person stands in surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and certain other sports: you kick-turn with both feet on the board
• (boards) pieces of thick stiff card used for book covers.
• (boards) the structure, typically of wood surmounted with panels of glass, surrounding an ice-hockey rink.
• (boards) Basketballinformal term for backboard.

• 3 [treated as singular or plural] a group of people constituted as the decision-making body of an organization:he sits on the board of directors [as modifier]:a board meeting

• 4 [mass noun] the provision of regular meals when one stays somewhere, in return for payment or services:board and lodging
• [count noun] archaic a table set for a meal: he looked at the banquet which was spread upon his board

• 5 Sailing a distance covered by a vessel in a single tack: we were tacking up to the anchor, shortening cable at each board

verb

• 1 [with object] get on or into (a ship, aircraft, or other vehicle):we boarded the plane for Oslo [no object]:they would not be able to board without a ticket
• (be boarding) (of an aircraft) be ready for passengers to get on:Flight 172 to Istanbul is now boarding

• 2 [no object] live and receive regular meals in a house in return for payment or services:the cousins boarded for a while with Ruby
• (of a pupil) live in school during term time: parents had to cope with their child boarding at a special school
• [with object] provide (a person or animal) with regular meals and somewhere to live in return for payment:dogs may have to be boarded at kennels

• 3 [with object] (board something up/over) cover or seal a window or building with pieces of wood:the shop was still boarded up

• 4 [no object] ride on a snowboard: when we’re not boarding, we’re skiing