Waterboard

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A board set up to windward in a boat, to keep out water.
  2. 2
    A public commission charged with overseeing water quality in a particular area.

    "The waterboard argued that the quality of the water was good […]"

Verb
  1. 1
    To subject to waterboarding, to pour water over a cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized captive. transitive

    "We waterboarded the suspect, but he refused to confess."

Example

More examples

"The waterboard argued that the quality of the water was good […]"

Etymology

From Middle English water boarde, waterbord, equivalent to water + board. Compare West Frisian wetterboard (“waterboard”), Dutch waterbord (“waterboard”), German Wassertafel (“waterboard”), Danish vandbræt (“waterboard”), Swedish vattenbräda (“waterboard”), Icelandic vatnsbretti (“waterboard”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.