BOARD, noun

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.'

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 desk 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.

Now board to board the rival vessels row.

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.

8. A table for artificers to sit or work on.

9. A table or frame for a game; as a chess board etc.

10. A body of men constituting a quorum in session; a court, or council; as a board of trustees; a board of officers.

BOARD, verb transitive To lay or spread with boards; to cover with boards.

1. To enter a ship by force in combat, which answers to storming a city or fort on land.

2. To attack; to make the first attempt upon a man. In Spenser, to accost.

3. To place at board for a compensation, as a lodger.

4. To furnish with food, or food and lodging, for a compensation; as, a man boards ten students.

BOARD, verb intransitive 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.