Meanings
plural boardsmen
- datedA member (especially male) of a board (governing body).
The youngest Ohio boardsman, John (Scott) Francis, 18, is a warehouse billing clerk.
1972, Ohio Schools3 more examples
In certain instances we were estranged from denominational boardsmen by their sensitivity to professional prerogative.
1966, C. Stanley Lowell, Embattled Wall: Americans United, an Idea and a ManThe members elected for the consolidated school system were often boardsmen from the parent school systems.
1972, Richard O. Carlson, School Superintendents: Careers and Performance, Merrill Publishing CompanyBeyond their obvious role in selecting architects and shaping the appearance of the campus along the lines of their businesses, Philadelphia boardsmen, whose resources were tied up in their industries, took a different course from the capitalists of New York in running and funding the university.
2000, George E. Thomas, David B. Brownlee, Building America's First University: An Historical and Architectural Guide to the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 63Synonyms: board member
- A surfer.
We found Viri and his friend Miki Aikau, a legendary boardsman, waiting for us on the beach.
2012, Forest Fox, Circles In Time, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 122 more examples
The first Endless Summer was partially a surfing documentary and partially a travelog, but it was organized around the quest for the perfect beach, which the intrepid boardsmen finally found at the film's end.
1995, The Laser Disc NewsletterOnly the missing boardsman, Sam Meyers, had a real job. How did these young men fund their passion? Surfing in Acapulco costs money.
2007, Nora Charles, Death Rides the Surf, Penguin, →ISBN - A record producer; one who works a mixing board.
A boardsman at heart, though, his dark, diamond-hard soundtrack steals the show.
2007, King Magazine2 more examples
Brooklyn's THE BAD SEED getsa potentially dangerous production assist from Virginia boardsman Nottz, who resuscitates the Depression-era chorus technique he laced Busta Rhymes with on "Get Out!!"
2000, Vibe, page 169The production from Miami-based boardsman Red Spyda is punchier, G-Unit's faux Last Poets-style ad libs gleefully interact with Big, and 50 freely flaunts his outlaw-cum-favored-son status
2003, Cheo Hodari Coker, Unbelievable: The Life, Death, and Afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G., →ISBN - datedA high diver.
He needs only to concentrate and to dive in practice, to become a still far better boardsman.
1975, April 1, Ukiah Daily Journal, page 62 more examples
High divers Wilf Bacon, who holds the B.C. indoor crown, and Bernie McHale supplied thrilling samples of what aquatic fans will see, when the province's best boardsmen vie for honors at the Jaycee Regatta next month.
1949, July 20, The Chilliwack Progress, page 15In the diving competition, ace boardsman Dan Troost fell into second spot by three points as the senior hit his hand and head on the board in his final dive, breaking a small bone in his hand.
1971, February 8, The Holland Evening Sentinel, page 2 - ball gamesA basketball player who excels at rebounds.
Michael Whitley of Ohlone led all boardsmen with 6 rebounds.
1984, February 9, Santa Cruz Sentinel, page 302 more examples
The overall record for the team was also broken that night when the Royal boardsmen grabbed 71 bouncebacks.
1958, February 21, Pittston Gazette, page 6Willie Murrell, the fluid 6-6 frontliner, is the ’Cats No. 1 point producer with an 18.3 average. His 9.1 mark also tops the boardsmen.
1963, January 12, The Kansas City Times, page 23 - nauticalA sailor on a smack whose job is to bait and shoot the lines
Earley in the morning there was an altercation between some of the Boardsmen and one of the Ships Corperals.
1865 February 20, William Benjamin Gould, Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor, page 2232 more examples
Why, blast, I mind when I wor boardsman o' the Rose of Sharon. The mate, I f 'rget his name, went hoom unexpected-like one night and found a man in bed 'long o' his old woman.
1948, George Goldsmith Carter, The smacksmen: a story of the fishermen of the BoroughThe crews of the later ketches numbered nine; a master (who was often also owner), mate, boardsman, and under-boardsman, whose duties were to bait and shoot the lines, the haulers and backer-in, who coiled down and removed the stale bait, and the boy, who was also cook.
1986, Hervey Benham, Once Upon a Tide - nauticalOne who rides on the boards of a log canoe in order to balance it.
In a stiff wind, the boardsmen run up 12-15 foot boards from side to balance the craft
2010, Stephen R. Brown, Tidewater: Images of the Chesapeake Bay, page 622 more examples
By adjusting their position on the boards, the crew can compensate for subtle changes in wind and course. One wrong move may be enough to send everyone into the drink, so the job of the boardsman is a tricky one.
1984 July 2, The Star-Democrat, Easton, Maryland, page 27Roger Vaughn explains the tack, in relation to the boardsmen, stating: Part of the fun, not to mention exercise, in log canoe sailing smooth crew work with the heavy planks that keep these hulls on their feet or close to it.
1989, Nelson Lyles Forbes, The racing log canoe: Ancient traditions alive on the Chesapeake Bay, thesis submitted to Middle Tennessee State University, page 34-36 - datedOne who wears a sandwich board.
[...] one example of this being the fact that a boardsman has recently been promenading the Strand with a selection of photographs upon his sandwich boards
1886, Journal for Amateur Photographers2 more examples
In " Following the Leader " (May 12, 1887), HB has given a fanciful version of the candidate's supporters impressed as boardsmen. O'Connell heads the file, with a placard "Leader for Westminster."
1892, Joseph Grego, A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering: From the Stuarts to Queen VictoriaFrom time to time the boardsman has to don some descriptive costume. Should he be retained on behalf of the Army and Navy Hair-Cutting Saloon, he may appear in an old regimental tunic and cocked hat, accompanied by a mate who stalks the world in the guise of a British Admiral. Again, should his boards illustrate “The Convict’s Doom,” the latest melodramatic success at the Princess’s Theatre, he will very likely walk abroad in knickerbockers and a jacket plentifully embellished with the broad arrow.
1894, Montagu Williams Q.C, (Please provide the book title or journal name)Synonyms: boardman
- A chess player.
Bob took his unspoken initiation in stride; it was a chess game of sorts, and he was in the realm of a master, who, in turn, was son of a master boardsman.
2003, Warren Getler, Bob Brewer, Shadow of the Sentinel: One Man's Quest to Find the Hidden Treasure of the Confederacy, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 122 more examples
On talent alone, Hook confesses, he had no right to such a matchup. No, the way Hook describes the Virgin Island boardsmen, they come off like the chess equivalent of the Jamaican bobsledders who gamed their way into the Olympics (the athletical Olympics, not the chess olympics) by representing a nation that really shouldn’t be competing.
2009 November 20, Dave McKenna, “Chess Master Reflects on a Life of Queens and Rooks”, in Washington City PaperWhile I am sure that there have been many novels that revolve around chess, it was Robert Hough who transported the game from the old world to the new along with the boardsman, Benny Wand.
2015 August 22, Andrew Armitage, “Two Richly Rewarding Reads”, in The Sun Times - datedA player of draughts/checkers
On Tuesday evening draught match was played at the Eastbourne village club. The home team are adept boardsmen [...]
1892 March 19, “Midhurst”, in Sussex Agricultural Express, page 52 more examples
The following match was contested on Wednesday last week, when the Town Club, though without their two top boardsmen, proved far too strong for the soldiers.
1911 November 10, “Dover Draughts Club”, in Dover Express, page 5Champion checker players of Pittsburgh and a team composed of the outstanding boardsmen of the Monongahela Valley will meet in a checker tournament to be held in Donora on Saturday, April 21st.
1934, April 11, "Plan Checker Tourney Soon", The Daily Republican (Monongahela, Pennsylvania), page 4 - One who assembles the frames of a ship.
Alex Pollock, Frame Boardsman, East Yard
1960, “Portraits”, in Lithgow Journal2 more examples
In this work there are engaged the frameturner, the boardsman or adjuster, and a third man whom we may term the builder.
1894 February 14, “Shipbuilders Wages”, in Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, page 2[...] having given out information so that the midship frames could be worked, it had been found that the boardsmen were practically upon the backs of the loftsmen and it had been difficult to keep pace without outside work.
1920, North East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Transactions - North East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders - archaicOne who prepares wigs or artificial hair.
1891, July 25, classified advert in South Wales Echo Wanted; good Gent's Hand; fair Ladies and Boardsman, able to put up plain dressings.
2 more examples
It is unnecessary after this description to remind the young boardsman that no net is put on inside the mount, all the middle portion being left bare.
1903, Edwin Creer, Alfred M. Sutton, Boardwork; or, The art of wigmaking, &c: a technical handbook designed for the use of hairdressers, and especially of young men in the trade ...HAIRDRESSERS-Wanted, a First-class Gentleman's Hand and Boardsman, Must understand all branches of hair work
1911, August 20, classified advert in The Press (New Zealand)
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA member (especially male) of a board (governing body).
nounOne who wears a sandwich board.
Origin
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
boardsman. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boardsman
“boardsman.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boardsman. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “boardsman,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boardsman.
Source: boardsman on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.