waterboard

Meanings

Noun

• A board set up to windward in a boat, to keep out water.
• A public commission charged with overseeing water quality in a particular area.

Verb

• To subject to waterboarding, to pour water over a cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized captive

Origin

• From Middle English water boarde, waterbord, equivalent to . Compare West Frisian wetterboard, Dutch waterbord, German Wassertafel, Danish vandbræt, Swedish vattenbräda, Icelandic vatnsbretti.