above-board vs literal

above-board

adj
  • In open sight; without trick, concealment, or deception. 

adv
  • Honestly; openly. 

literal

adj
  • Unimaginative; matter-of-fact 

  • Following the letter or exact words; not free; not taking liberties 

  • Consisting of, or expressed by, letters (of an alphabet) 

  • (broadly) That which generally assumes that the plainest reading of a given scripture is correct but which allows for metaphor where context indicates it; (specifically) following the historical-grammatical method of biblical interpretation 

  • Used non-literally as an intensifier; see literally for usage notes. 

  • Exactly as stated; read or understood without additional interpretation; according to the letter or verbal expression; real; not figurative or metaphorical, and etymonic rather than idiomatic. 

noun
  • A misprint (or occasionally a scribal error) that affects a letter. 

  • A value, as opposed to an identifier, written into the source code of a computer program. 

  • A propositional variable or the negation of a propositional variable. ᵂᵖ 

How often have the words above-board and literal occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )