Breadboard
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A cutting board, especially for cutting bread.
- 2 a wooden or plastic board on which dough is kneaded or bread is sliced wordnet
- 3 A pull-out cutting board underneath a counter, found in many kitchens.
"One way or the other, it was always back to Mother's breadboard on Monday."
- 4 A device used to build a (usually temporary) prototype of an electronic circuit and for experimenting with circuit designs. Both solder and solderless versions are available; the solderless type are easily reusable.
"If you are following a book like Starting Electronics, however, a breadboard is even more useful. […] Differences lie between breadboards in the spacings and the positionings of the holes, and the number of holes in each group."
- 1 To set up (an electronic device) on a breadboard. transitive
"If the breadboarded circuit operates incorrectly or erratically, try relocating some of the components."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"One way or the other, it was always back to Mother's breadboard on Monday."
Etymology
From bread + board. Regarding definition 3: the etymology is either that electric circuits used to be prototyped on actual bread boards (definition 1) populated with nails, or that solder breadboards have lots of holes and are usually brown (they visually resemble a slice of bread), or a merging of the two. The etymology is less obvious today given the popularity of solderless breadboards.
Related phrases
More for "breadboard"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.