abord

See also: à bord

English

Etymology

Middle English aborden, from abord.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

abord (plural abords)

  1. (archaic) Manner or way of approaching or accosting; address. [since the early 1600s]
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Chesterfield to this entry?)

Verb

abord (third-person singular simple present abords, present participle abording, simple past and past participle aborded)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To approach. [attested from around 1400 until the late 1600s]
  2. (transitive, rare) To accost. [since the early 1600s]
    • 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, hardback edition, Duckworth, page 82:
      Mrs Hurstpierpoint aborded her with a smile.

References

  1. Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 6

Anagrams


French

Etymology

From Middle French [Term?], from aborder, from Old French aborder (to hit a ship in order to board it), from bord (side of a ship, edge), from Frankish *bord (side of a ship or vessel), from Proto-Germanic *burdą (edge, border, side), from Proto-Indo-European *bheredh- (to cut). Cognate with Old High German bort (edge, rim, rand), Old English bord (ship, side of a ship), Old Norse borð (edge, side of a vessel). More at board.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /a.bɔʁ/
  • (file)

Noun

abord m (plural abords)

  1. (literary) The manner with which one acts in the presence of another person or persons, especially in a first encounter.
  2. (rare) The surroundings of a place.
  3. (archaic) Arrival or accessibility by water.

Usage notes

  • In the sense "surroundings", the word is almost always a pluralia tantum.
  • The sense "manner of acting" is usually now perceived as a backformation from aborder (to approach), and is most common in the expression être d'un abord and variations of it.

Derived terms

Further reading

Anagrams


Middle English

Etymology

From a- + bord (exterior of a ship).

Adverb

abord

  1. On board; into or within a ship or boat
  2. (nautical) Alongside.

Preposition

abord

  1. On board of; onto or into a ship, boat, train, plane.
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