freeboard

[ free-bawrd, -bohrd ]

noun

1. Nautical.
   1. the distance between the level of the water and the upper surface of the freeboard deck amidships at the side of a hull: regulated by the agencies of various countries according to the construction of the hull, the type of cargo carried, the area of the world in which it sails, the type of water, and the season of the year. Compare load line.
   2. (on a cargo vessel) the distance between the uppermost deck considered fully watertight and the official load line.
   3. the portion of the side of a hull that is above the water.
2. Civil Engineering. the height of the watertight portion of a building or other construction above a given level of water in a river, lake, etc.

freeboard

/ ˈfriːˌbɔːd /

noun

1. the space or distance between the deck of a vessel and the waterline

Word History and Origins

Origin of freeboard¹

1670–80; free + board; translation of French franc bord

Example Sentences

Only a few small inches of freeboard lay between the water and the top of my gunwales.

From Outside Online

With a full cargo she will draw fifteen feet, and have a freeboard of little more than three feet.

From Project Gutenberg

Davis is contemptuous about her low freeboard forward; says he would rather go to sea in the Dulce.

From Project Gutenberg

She is a craft of some three thousand tons, broad of beam and with plenty of freeboard.

From Project Gutenberg

By the time half our company was overboard, the boat had a reasonably high freeboard and was less ticklish to handle in the gusts.

From Project Gutenberg

It takes honest elbow-muscle, too, to haul ten pounds of floundering cod up five feet of freeboard to the rail and deck.

From Project Gutenberg