above-board
See also: aboveboard and above board
English
Alternative forms
- aboveboard, above board (adverb)
Etymology
above + board (“table”). First attested in 1610. Said by Johnson to have been borrowed from gamblers, who, when they change their cards, put their hands under the table.
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /əˈbʌvˌbɔɹd/
Adjective
above-board (not comparable)
- In open sight; without trick, concealment, or deception. [First attested in the late 16th century.][1]
- Fair and aboveboard.
- 2013 May 15, Stephen Lemons, “Joe Arpaio's Fave Pay-triot John Philip Sousa IV Fires Back, Makes Bank Off Peddling Joe”, in Phoenix New Times, archived from the original on 11 March 2019, retrieved 11 March 2019:
- Nothing illegal about any of this to my knowledge. Indeed, this is the very above-board racket of running an independent political committee. Everyone does it. Left, right, center and none of the above. And anyway, why shouldn't a true pay-triot get paid?
- 2018 March 26, Maya Kosoff, “Zuckerberg hits users with the hard truth: You agreed to this”, in Vanity Fair:
- Over the weekend, Android owners were displeased to discover that Facebook had been scraping their text-message and phone-call metadata, in some cases for years, an operation hidden in the fine print of a user agreement clause until Ars Technica reported. Facebook was quick to defend the practice as entirely aboveboard—small comfort to those who are beginning to realize that, because Facebook is a free service, they and their data are by necessity the products.
Translations
straightforward, transparent
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Adverb
above-board (not comparable)
- Honestly; openly. [First attested in the late 16th century.][1]
Synonyms
- straightforward, transparent
References
- Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “above-board”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 7.