I “onboard” folks all the time. That’s one of my things.
Folks say things like, “Awwww, we gotta onboard this? Better get maiki!” when I’m not around.
So what does it mean?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/onboard
Okay, let’s check out board:
From Middle English bord , from Old English bord (“board; plank; table; shield; deck; ship; boundary”), from Proto-West Germanic *bord , from Proto-Germanic *burdą (“board; plank; table”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerdʰ- (“to cut”).
It’s so amazing to look at all the derived meanings. First, there’s the nouns:
Noun
board ( countable and uncountable , plural boards )
- A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making.
- A device (e.g., switchboard) containing electrical switches and other controls and designed to control lights, sound, telephone connections, etc.
- A flat surface with markings for playing a board game.
Each player starts the game with four counters on the board .
- Short for blackboard, whiteboard, chessboard, surfboard, message board (on the Internet), etc.
- A committee that manages the business of an organization, e.g., a board of directors .
We have to wait to hear back from the board .
- (uncountable) Regular meals or the amount paid for them in a place of lodging.
Room and board
- (nautical) The side of a ship.
- (nautical) The distance a sailing vessel runs between tacks when working to windward.
- (ice hockey) The wall that surrounds an ice hockey rink, often in plural.
- (archaic) A long, narrow table, like that used in a medieval dining hall.
- Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard.
to bind a book in boards
- (video games) A level or stage having a particular layout.
- (bridge) A container for holding pre-dealt cards that is used to allow multiple sets of players to play the same cards.
I’m always telling @susan (when I’m not eavesdropping on others to hear how they refer to be and onboarding), “nature abhors a flat surface!”
What I mean by that is, when I am homeless I have difficulty doing things that people with tables take for granted. Want to prepare a meal? Eat a meal? Write on paper? Hold a thing so it doesn’t roll away?
Thank a flat surface.
on- is easy enough to understand:
Etymology
From Middle English on- , from Old English on- , an- , from Proto-Germanic *an- , *ana- (“on-”), from Proto-Indo-European *ano- , *nō- (“on”). Cognate with Dutch aan- , German an- , Swedish an- .
Prefix
on-
- on, at, toward, upon.
So, let’s look at the types of verbs we get when we are board…
Verb
board ( third-person singular simple present boards , present participle boarding , simple past and past participle boarded )
- (transitive) To step or climb onto or otherwise enter a ship, aircraft, train or other conveyance.
- It is time to board the aircraft.
- (transitive) To provide someone with meals and lodging, usually in exchange for money.
to board one’s horse at a livery stable
(transitive) To receive meals and lodging in exchange for money.
(transitive, nautical) To capture an enemy ship by going alongside and grappling her, then invading her with a boarding party
(intransitive) To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation
(transitive, now rare) To approach (someone); to make advances to, accost.
to board a house
(transitive) To write something on a board, especially a blackboard or whiteboard.
A bureau comes from:
Etymology
Borrowed from French bureau , earlier “coarse cloth (as desk cover), baize”, from Old French burel (“woolen cloth”), diminutive of *bure (compare Middle French bure (“coarse woolen cloth”), French bourre (“hair, fluff”)), from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff, shaggy cloth, coarse fabric”); akin to Ancient Greek βερβέριον (berbérion, “shabby garment”). Doublet of burel and borrel , taken from Old French.
Bureaus and boards… the human condition expressed as furniture.
