[muhth
-er-bawrd, -bohrd] 
| a rigid, slotted board upon which other boards that contain the basic circuitry of a computer or of a computer component can be mounted. Compare board (def. 14). |
| moth·er·board (mŭth'ər-bôrd', -bōrd') n. The main board of a computer, usually containing the circuitry for the central processing unit, keyboard, and monitor and often having slots for accepting additional circuitry. |
motherboard (mŭ 'ər-bôrd') Pronunciation Key
The main circuit board of a computer, usually containing the central processing unit and main system memory as well as circuitry that controls the disk drives, keyboard, monitor, and other peripheral devices. |
motherboard hardware
(mobo) The main printed circuit board in an electronic device, particularly a computer, which may contain sockets that accept additional boards ("daughter-boards").
In a personal computer, the motherboard contains the bus, the microprocessor, and integrated circuits used for controlling any built-in peripherals such as the keyboard, text and graphics display, serial ports and parallel ports, joystick, and mouse interfaces.
(2000-08-10)