above-board

in open sight; without tricks, concealment, or disguise: Their actions are open and aboveboard.

Origin:
1610–20; above + board; so called from the requirement of keeping the hands above the table or board in order to discourage possible cheating at cards

Synonyms
honest, straightforward.

Antonyms
devious, underhanded, sneaky.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source

Link To above-board

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

aboveboard

1610s, from above and board (1). "A figurative expression borrowed from gamesters, who, when they put their hands under the table, are changing their cards." [Johnson]

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

00:10

Above-board is always a great word to know.

So is ort. Does it mean:

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Matching Quote

"... the highest gifts are not measurable in dollars and cents. Beyond and above the class who run an account with the world and merely manage honestly to pay in kind for what they receive, there is a noble army—the Shakespeares and Miltons, the Newtons, Galileos and Darwins,—Watts, Morse, Howe, Lincoln, Garrison, John Brown—a part of the world's roll of honor—whose price of board and keep dwindles into nothingness when compared with what the world owes them; men who have taken of the world's bread and paid for it in immortal thoughts, invaluable inventions, new facilities, heroic deeds of loving self-sacrifice; men who dignify the world for their having lived in it and to whom the world will ever bow in grateful worship as its heroes and benefactors. It may not be ours to stamp our genius in enduring characters—but we can give what we are at its best."

-Anna Julia Cooper

Remove ads like these. Upgrade now!

above-board

a·bove·board