Boarde

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A flat piece of sawn timber used for building or flooring ; a table on which food was set out or a meal was supplied ; a group of officials who govern an organization
2. A thin, flat length of wood used in construction ; the table where food and drink were served, or the meals provided ; an official council that directs a company or society
3. Sawn wood in a flat plank used for construction or flooring ; a meal or table supplied to people in exchange for payment ; a committee of appointed officials who oversee an organization

Etymology: Middle English "boarde" is the ancestor of modern "board," and its earliest sense was not the flat plank of today but the sawn-wood plank itself, a piece of timber cut for building. The word came into English from Old French "bort" or "borde," which probably rests on a Germanic base meaning a side or edge, so the plank's name seems to have started out as the edge of a structure, or the edge of a boat, before it settled on the wood itself. Its exact Germanic source is not firmly established. The spelling "boarde" reflects Middle English orthography, with the "oa" standing for the long vowel that later shifted and was written with "oa" as well, eventually giving the modern pronunciation and spelling "board." The sense of a flat piece of wood then spread into many uses, from floorboards and tables to a council that sits around a table, which is why the same word now covers both timber and committees.