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set and furnish with provisions; as, to spread a table. Boiled the flesh, and spread the board. Tennyson. To sprad cloth, to unfurl sail. [Obs.] Evelyn.

Spring back (Bookbinding), a back with a curved piece of thin sheet iron or of stiff pasteboard fastened to the inside, the effect of which is to make the leaves of a book thus bound (as a ledger or other account or blank book) spring up and lie flat. -- Spring balance, a contrivance for measuring weight or force by t…

ares go, to see how the game proceeds; -- a phrase taken from the game of chess, the chessboard being formed with squares. [Obs.] L'Estrange.

A structure of posts and boards for supporting workmen, etc., as in building.

The men in the starboard watch. [Obs.] R. H. Dana, Jr.

The shearing of a pile of books which are as yet uncovered, or out of boards. Knight.

Being in the stern, or being astern; as, the stern davits. Stern board (Naut.), a going or falling astern; a loss of way in making a tack; as, to make a stern board. See Board, n., 8 (b). -- Stern chase. (Naut.) (a) See under Chase, n. (b) A stern chaser. -- Stern chaser (Naut.), a cannon placed in a ship's stern, po…

A person employed in a hotel, or a club, or on board a ship, to provide for the table, superintend the culinary affairs, etc. In naval vessels, the captain's steward, wardroom steward, steerage steward, warrant officers steward, etc., are petty officers who provide for the messes under their charge.…

order (Com.), a permission granted by the customs department to take cargo or ballast on board before the old cargo is out, in order to steady the ship.

grenades, and other materials of an offensive and suffocating smell, -- sometimes used in boarding an enemy's vessel.

To regulate the sounds of, as musical strings, by pressing them against the finger board with the finger, or by shortening in any way the vibrating part.

One who conceals himself board of a vessel about to leave port, or on a railway train, in order to obtain a free passage.

Applied to a floor the boards of which are so laid that the joints form a continued line transverse to the length of the boards themselves. Brandle & C.

A board, or piece of wood or metal, having one edge perfectly straight, -- used to ascertain whether a line is straight or a surface even, and for drawing straight lines.

The reach or extent of a vessel's progress on one tack; a tack or board.

er we come to an anchor, we always send out our strikers, and put out hooks and lines overboard, to try fish. Dampier.

A framework of timber covered with boards to support rubbish; also, a framework of boards to protect miners from falling stones. [Prov. Eng.]

The lowest member of a base when divided horizontally, or of a baseboard, pedestal, or the like.

ely beneath the surface soil. Subsoil plow, a plow having a share and standard but no moldboard. It follows in the furrow made by an ordinary plow, and loosens the soil to an additional depth without bringing it to the surface. Knight.

A board or group of moldings running round a room on a level with the tops of the chair backs. Knight.