uh-bawrd, -bohrd, uh-kros-]
| 1. | applying to all employees, members, groups, or categories; general: The across-the-board pay increase means a raise for all employees. |
| 2. | (of a bet) covering all possibilities of winning on a given result, esp. by placing a combination bet on one horse in a race for win, place, and show. |

| 1. | a piece of wood sawed thin, and of considerable length and breadth compared with the thickness. |
| 2. | a flat slab of wood or other material for some specific purpose: a cutting board. |
| 3. | a sheet of wood, cardboard, paper, etc., with or without markings, for some special use, as a checkerboard or chessboard. |
| 4. | boards,
|
| 5. | Bookbinding. stiff cardboard or other material covered with paper, cloth, or the like to form the covers for a book. |
| 6. | Building Trades. composition material made in large sheets, as plasterboard or corkboard. |
| 7. | a table, esp. to serve food on. |
| 8. | daily meals, esp. as provided for pay: twenty dollars a day for room and board. |
| 9. | an official group of persons who direct or supervise some activity: a board of directors. |
| 10. | Nautical.
|
| 11. | Railroads. a fixed signal or permanent sign regulating traffic. |
| 12. | a flat surface, as a wall or an object of rectangular shape, on which something is posted, as notices or stock-market quotations: a bulletin board. |
| 13. | surfboard. |
| 14. | Computers.
|
| 15. | Electronics. circuit board (def. 2). |
| 16. | a switchboard. |
| 17. | Australian.
|
| 18. | Obsolete. the edge, border, or side of anything. |
| 19. | to cover or close with boards (often fol. by up or over): to board up a house; to board over a well. |
| 20. | to furnish with meals, or with meals and lodging, esp. for pay: They boarded him for $50 a week. |
| 21. | to go on board of or enter (a ship, train, etc.). |
| 22. | to allow on board: We will be boarding passengers in approximately ten minutes. |
| 23. | to come up alongside (a ship), as to attack or to go on board: The pirate ship boarded the clipper. |
| 24. | Obsolete. to approach; accost. |
| 25. | to take one's meals, or be supplied with food and lodging at a fixed price: Several of us board at the same rooming house. |
| 26. | Ice Hockey. to hit an opposing player with a board check. |
| 27. | across the board,
|
| 28. | go by the board,
|
| 29. | on board,
|
| 30. | on the boards, in the theatrical profession: The family has been on the boards since grandfather's time. |
| 31. | tread the boards. tread (def. 22). |

Across The Board
A market-wide directional movement. In other words, a market condition in which most stocks and sectors are moving in the same direction. These movements are usually caused by market-wide events.
Investopedia Commentary
If you hear in the financial media that the "stock market is up across the board", it means that most of the stocks in the market are up on that day's trading. The term comes from the NYSE big board, a large board on which stock prices were once written, so when the majority of prices were up or down, the movement was shown "across the board".
Related Links
Which Direction Is the Market Heading?
Getting a VIX on Market Direction
Getting to Know Stock Exchanges
See also: Big Board, New York Stock Exchange - NYSE, Rally, Sector, Selloff
across the board
Applying to all the individuals in a group, as in They promised us an across-the-board tax cut, that is, one applying to all taxpayers, regardless of income. This expression comes from horse racing, where it refers to a bet that covers all possible ways of winning money on a race: win (first), place (second), or show (third). The board here is the notice-board on which the races and betting odds are listed. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.