Backboard
noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The flat vertical surface to which the basket is attached.
- 2 The port or larboard side of a ship uncountable, usually
"And to delight in the fact that a hole on the backboard side means that you're safe because you're sitting on the starboard side seems to me to be less than clever."
- 3 a board used to support the back of someone or something wordnet
- 4 A flat vertical wall with the image of a tennis net drawn or painted on it, designed to practice hitting against such that the ball rebounds.
- 5 a raised vertical board with basket attached; used to play basketball wordnet
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- 6 A spine board.
- 7 A board placed at the back of a cart, boat, behind a signal, etc.
"The L.B.S.C.R. favoured backboards for signals wherever these helped visibility. The Great Eastern also made extensive use of backboards."
- 1 To place (a patient) on a spine board. transitive
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"A few minutes later I came to and I was on a backboard with a neckbrace on being taken down the mountain by ski patrol."
Etymology
From back + board.
Likely a borrowing from Dutch bakboord (“portside”) or from Middle Low German backbort, bakbōrt (“portside”). Old English bæcbord (“larboard, portside”) did not survive (in that form) into Middle English; Scottish texts of the 1500s have forms like bawbord, baburd and babord, possibly borrowed from French bâbord; later texts with Scots backburd, backber may have borrowed it from Old Norse bakborði (“portside”). Cognate with West Frisian bakboard (“portside”), German Backbord (“portside”), Danish bagbord (“portside”).
Related phrases
More for "backboard"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.