Nearby Words

across the board

[uh-kraws-thuh-bawrd, -bohrd, uh-kros-] Origin

a·cross-the-board

[uh-kraws-thuh-bawrd, -bohrd, uh-kros-]
adjective
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, especially by placing a combination bet on one horse in a race for win, place, and show.

Origin:
1940–45

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Across the board is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

board

[bawrd, bohrd]
noun
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,
a.
Theater. the stage: The play will go on the boards next week.
b.
the wooden fence surrounding the playing area of an ice-hockey rink.
c.
a racing course made of wood, used especially in track meets held indoors: his first time running on boards.
5.
Bookbinding. stiff cardboard or other material covered with paper, cloth, or the like to form the covers for a book.
EXPAND
6.
Building Trades. composition material made in large sheets, as plasterboard or corkboard.
7.
a table, especially to serve food on.
8.
daily meals, especially 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.
a.
the side of a ship.
b.
one leg, or tack, of the course of a ship beating to windward.
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.
14.
Computers.
a.
Also called card, circuit board. a piece of fiberglass or other material upon which chips can be mounted to perform specific functions.
b.
plugboard (def. 2).
15.
Electronics. circuit board (def. 2).
16.
a switchboard.
17.
Australian.
a.
the area of a woolshed where shearing is done.
b.
a crew of shearers working in a particular woolshed.
c.
sheep about to be sheared.
18.
Obsolete. the edge, border, or side of anything.
COLLAPSE
verb (used with object)
19.
to cover or close with boards (often followed by up or over): to board up a house; to board over a well.
20.
to furnish with meals, or with meals and lodging, especially 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.
EXPAND
24.
Obsolete. to approach; accost.
COLLAPSE
verb (used without object)
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,
a.
Racing. betting on a horse or dog to finish first, second, or third, so that any result where a selection wins, places, or shows enables the bettor to collect.
b.
applying to or affecting every person, class, group, etc.
28.
go by the board,
a.
to go over the ship's side.
b.
to be destroyed, neglected, or forgotten: All his devoted labor went by the board.
29.
on board,
a.
on or in a ship, plane, or other vehicle: There were several movie stars on board traveling incognito.
b.
Baseball. on base: There were two men on board as the next batter came up.
c.
present and functioning as a member of a team or organization.
Also, aboard.
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).

Origin:
before 900; Middle English, Old English bord board, table, shield; cognate with Dutch boord board, bord plate, German Bort, Old Norse borth, Gothic -baurd

board·a·ble, adjective
board·like, adjective
re·board, verb (used with object)
un·board·ed, adjective

board, bored, committee, council, panel, trust (see synonym note at trust).
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To across the board
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

board
"side of ship," O.E. bord "border, rim, ship's side," from P.Gmc. *bordaz (cf. O.S. bord, Du. boord, Ger. Bord, O.H.G. bart, O.N. barð), perhaps from PIE *bhrtos "raised, made projecting." Connected to border. See also starboard. Under
EXPAND
this theory, etymologically not related to board (1), but the two forms represented in English by these words were more or less confused at an early date in most Germanic languages, a situation made worse in English because this Germanic root also was adopted as M.L. bordus (cf. It. and Sp. bordo). It also entered O.Fr. as bort "beam, board, plank; side of a ship" (12c., Mod.Fr. bord), either from M.L. or Frankish, and from thence it came over with the Normans to mingle with its native cousins. By now the senses are inextricably tangled. Some etymology dictionaries treat them as having been the same word all along.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

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.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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