floorboard

[ flawr-bawrd, flohr-bohrd ]

noun

1. any of the boards composing a floor.
2. the floor of an automotive vehicle.

verb (used with object)

1. floor ( def 19 ).

floorboard

/ ˈflɔːˌbɔːd /

noun

1. one of the boards forming a floor

Word History and Origins

Origin of floorboard¹

First recorded in 1880–85; floor + board

Example Sentences

Not far from where she sits, large growths of dry rot fungus are feeding off the floorboards.

From BBC

I can hear the faint creaking of floorboards in my house yet when I’m in the middle of a robust three-way conversation, I feel like the odd man out.

From Salon

The detective trying to piece together what happened to a baby hidden beneath floorboards more than a century ago says he hopes to find living relatives.

From BBC

Twine was found around the neck of a baby whose body may have been under floorboards for more than 100 years, police said.

From BBC

The skeleton of a baby which was found beneath the floorboards of a house appears to have been full term and "undisturbed for a number of years", according to police.

From BBC

More About Floorboard

What does floorboard mean?

A floorboard is one of the usually wooden planks that make up a floor.

It usually refers to a board of plywood used to make a subfloor—the rough floor beneath a finished floor. Many houses are constructed using floorboards to create a subfloor, which is then often covered with materials like hardwood, carpet, tile, linoleum, or some form of laminate flooring.

The word floorboard means something else in the context of vehicles—it refers to the floor of a car or truck.

This sense of the word is the basis of the slang verb floorboard, meaning to press a vehicle’s accelerator (gas pedal) as far down as possible (all the way to the floor) in order to go as fast as possible. The word floor is more commonly used to mean the same thing. Both terms are often followed by it, as in As soon as the light turned green, I floorboarded it so I could get way ahead of all the other cars. 

Example: I pried up a loose floorboard hoping to find treasure under, but there was just a lot of dust and dirt.

Where does floorboard come from?

The first records of the word floorboard come from the 1880s. The word board is commonly used to refer to a thin plank of wood.

In movies, people are always hiding things—or finding things hidden—under the floorboards, like stashes of money or secret letters. Sometimes, there’s even a secret room under the floorboards that’s used to hide people from the bad guys, who are often shown walking on the floorboards and causing dust to fall on the people who are trying to stay quietly hidden below.

Did you know ... ?

What are some words that share a root or word element with floorboard? 

• floor
• board
• flooring
• floorcover

What are some words that often get used in discussing floorboard?

• wooden
• plywood
• subfloor
• loose
• creak
• squeak

How is floorboard used in real life?

Floorboards are a common part of most houses. When people use the word, it’s usually in the context of construction, renovation, or floorboards that squeak too much.

If we step on the wrong floorboard our daughter wakes up crying.

Morning full of earthquakes? She’s still asleep.

— Jonathan Gonzalez (@JonathanNBCLA) July 30, 2020

Science fact #587: the volume of a creaking floorboard will magnify ten fold if there's a sleeping child nearby.

— Tim Koster (@authortimkoster) August 7, 2020

mom found really old newspapers hidden under the floorboards in the bathroom pic.twitter.com/dMUuxRFDsa

— lea wea (@biggaygengar) October 9, 2019

 

 

Try using floorboard!

True or False? 

When floorboard is used as a slang term, the phrase floorboard it! means the same thing as floor it!