'Returning board' definitions:

Definition of 'Returning board'

From: GCIDE
  • Board \Board\ (b[=o]rd), n. [OE. bord, AS. bord board, shipboard; akin to bred plank, Icel. bor[eth] board, side of a ship, Goth. f[=o]tu-baurd footstool, D. bord board, G. brett, bort. See def. 8. [root]92.]
  • 1. A piece of timber sawed thin, and of considerable length and breadth as compared with the thickness, -- used for building, etc. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: When sawed thick, as over one and a half or two inches, it is usually called a plank. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. A table to put food upon. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: The term board answers to the modern table, but it was often movable, and placed on trestles. --Halliwell. [1913 Webster]
  • Fruit of all kinds . . . She gathers, tribute large, and on the board Heaps with unsparing hand. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Hence: What is served on a table as food; stated meals; provision; entertainment; -- usually as furnished for pay; as, to work for one's board; the price of board. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. A table at which a council or court is held. Hence: A council, convened for business, or any authorized assembly or meeting, public or private; a number of persons appointed or elected to sit in council for the management or direction of some public or private business or trust; as, the Board of Admiralty; a board of trade; a board of directors, trustees, commissioners, etc. [1913 Webster]
  • Both better acquainted with affairs than any other who sat then at that board. --Clarendon. [1913 Webster]
  • We may judge from their letters to the board. --Porteus. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. A square or oblong piece of thin wood or other material used for some special purpose, as, a molding board; a board or surface painted or arranged for a game; as, a chessboard; a backgammon board. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard; as, to bind a book in boards. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. pl. The stage in a theater; as, to go upon the boards, to enter upon the theatrical profession. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. [In this use originally perh. a different word meaning border, margin; cf. D. boord, G. bord, shipboard, and G. borte trimming; also F. bord (fr. G.) the side of a ship. Cf. Border.] The border or side of anything. (Naut.) (a) The side of a ship. "Now board to board the rival vessels row." --Dryden. See On board, below. (b) The stretch which a ship makes in one tack. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: Board is much used adjectively or as the last part of a compound; as, fir board, clapboard, floor board, shipboard, sideboard, ironing board, chessboard, cardboard, pasteboard, seaboard; board measure. [1913 Webster]
  • The American Board, a shortened form of "The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions" (the foreign missionary society of the American Congregational churches).
  • Bed and board. See under Bed.
  • Board and board (Naut.), side by side.
  • Board of control, six privy councilors formerly appointed to superintend the affairs of the British East Indies. --Stormonth.
  • Board rule, a figured scale for finding without calculation the number of square feet in a board. --Haldeman.
  • Board of trade, in England, a committee of the privy council appointed to superintend matters relating to trade. In the United States, a body of men appointed for the advancement and protection of their business interests; a chamber of commerce.
  • Board wages. (a) Food and lodging supplied as compensation for services; as, to work hard, and get only board wages. (b) Money wages which are barely sufficient to buy food and lodging. (c) A separate or special allowance of wages for the procurement of food, or food and lodging. --Dryden.
  • By the board, over the board, or side. "The mast went by the board." --Totten. Hence (Fig.),
  • To go by the board, to suffer complete destruction or overthrow.
  • To enter on the boards, to have one's name inscribed on a board or tablet in a college as a student. [Cambridge, England.] "Having been entered on the boards of Trinity college." --Hallam.
  • To make a good board (Naut.), to sail in a straight line when close-hauled; to lose little to leeward.
  • To make short boards, to tack frequently.
  • On board. (a) On shipboard; in a ship or a boat; on board of; as, I came on board early; to be on board ship. (b) In or into a railway car or train. [Colloq. U. S.]
  • Returning board, a board empowered to canvass and make an official statement of the votes cast at an election. [U.S.] [1913 Webster]