Overboard

How to spell overboard

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce overboard

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does overboard mean?

1. adverbFrom a ship or boat into the water, over the side of the vessel.
2. adverbTo an extreme or excessive degree, especially in spending, effort, or reaction.

Overboard in a sentence

• A strong wave knocked the loose cargo overboard during the storm.

• They went completely overboard decorating the office for the holiday party.

• The crew tossed the empty crates overboard to lighten the load.

• She tends to go overboard when planning birthday celebrations for the children.

Where does overboard come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is a compound built from two very old native English pieces. The first, over, comes from Old English ofer, meaning 'above' or 'across', a thoroughly Germanic word with cousins throughout the family. The second half is the more interesting one: board derives from Old English bord, which had two related senses, a flat plank and the side of a ship. It is that nautical sense, the gunwale or side of the vessel, that survives in overboard, literally meaning 'over the ship's side'. By the late 1500s sailors were using it for anything or anyone that fell into the water, and the lively figurative sense of going to excess, as if tipping right over the edge, grew up alongside it. Remembering that the ending is the ordinary plank-and-side word 'board', not 'bored', is the key to spelling it correctly.

How the word is built

• over- (beyond, across)
• board (from Old English bord, the side of a ship)