BOARD, n.

1. A piece of timber sawed thin and of considerable length and breadth, compared with the thickness, used for building and other purposes.
2. A table. The table of our rude ancestors was a piece of board, perhaps originally laid upon the knees. “Lauti cibum capiunt; separata singulis sedes, et sua cuique mensa.” The Germans wash before they eat, and each has a separate seat, and his own table. – Tacitus, De Mor. Germ. 22.
3. Entertainment; food; diet; as, the price of board is two, five, or seven dollars a week.
4. A table at which a council or court is held; hence a council, convened for business, or any authorized assembly or meeting; as, a board of directors.
5. The deck of a ship; the interior part of a ship or boat; used in the phrase, on board, aboard. In this phrase however, the sense is primarily the side of the ship. To go aboard is to go over the side.
6. The side of a ship. [Fr. bord; Sp. borda.] Now board to board the rival vessels row. – Dryden. To fall over board, that is, over the side; the mast went by the board. Board and board, side by side.
7. The line over which a ship runs between tack and tack. To make a good board, is to sail in a straight line, when close hauled. To make short boards, is to tack frequently. – Mar. Dict.
8. A table for artificers to sit or work on.
9. A table or frame for a game; as, a chessboard, &c.
10. A body of men constituting a quorum in session; a court or council; as, a board of trustees; a board of officers.

To receive food or diet as a lodger, or without lodgings, for a compensation; as, he boards at the moderate price of two dollars a week.

1. To lay or spread with boards; to cover with boards.
2. To enter a ship by force in combat, which answers to storming a city or fort on land.
3. To attack; to make the first attempt upon a man. In Spenser, to accost. [Fr. aborder.] [Obs.] – Bacon. Shak.
4. To place at board, for a compensation, as a lodger.
5. To furnish with food, or food and lodging, for a compensation; as, a man boards ten students.

1. A piece of timber sawed thin, and of considerable length and breadth as compared with the thickness, -- used for building, etc.
   
   

   * When sawed thick, as over one and a half or two inches, it is usually called a plank.

2. To cover with boards or boarding] as, to board a house.
   
   
   "The boarded hovel." Cowper.
3. To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation; as, he boards at the hotel.
   
   

   We are several of us, gentlemen and ladies, who board in the same house.
   Spectator.

4. To approach; to accost; to address; hence, to woo.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   I will board her, though she chide as loud
   As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack.
   Shak.

5. 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.

6. To go on board of, or enter, as a ship, whether in a hostile or a friendly way.
   
   

   You board an enemy to capture her, and a stranger to receive news or make a communication.
   Totten.

7. Hence: What is served on a table as food; stated meals; provision; entertainment; -- usually as furnished for pay; as, to work for one's board; the price of board.
8. To enter, as a railway car.
   
   
   [Colloq. U. S.]
9. A table at which a council or court is held. Hence: A council, convened for business, or any authorized assembly or meeting, public or private; a number of persons appointed or elected to sit in council for the management or direction of some public or private business or trust; as, the Board of Admiralty; a board of trade; a board of directors, trustees, commissioners, etc.
   
   

   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.

10. To furnish with regular meals, or with meals and lodgings, for compensation; to supply with daily meals.
11. A square or oblong piece of thin wood or other material used for some special purpose, as, a molding board; a board or surface painted or arranged for a game; as, a chessboard; a backgammon board.
12. To place at board, for compensation; as, to board one's horse at a livery stable.
13. Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard; as, to bind a book in boards.
14. The stage in a theater; as, to go upon the boards, to enter upon the theatrical profession.
15. The border or side of anything.
    
    
    (Naut.) (a)