To enter on the boards

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]