A council which sits at a board or table; as “Board of Directors,” “Board of Guardians,” “School Board,” “Board of Trade,” etc. (Anglo-Saxon, bord, a board, table, etc.)
To sweep the board. To win and carry off all the stakes in a game of cards. 2. Board, in sea phrases, is all that space of the sea which a ship passes over in tacking.
On board. In the ship. “To go on board,” to enter the ship or other sea vessel.
Overboard Fallen out of the ship into the sea. To board a ship is to get on board an enemy's vessel. To make a good board. To make a good or long tack in beating to windward. To make a short board. To make a short tack. “To make short boards,” to tack frequently. To make a stern board. To sail stern foremost.
To run aboard of. To run foul of [another ship]. 3. To board. To feed and lodge together, is taken from the custom of the university members, etc., dining together at a common table or board.
To accost. (French, aborder, to accost.)
I'll board her, though she chide as loud As thunder.
Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew, i. 2.
(See also Hamlet, ii. 2.)
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894