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.
In the ship. “To go on board,” to enter the ship or other sea
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
Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew,
(See also Hamlet, ii. 2.)
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894