board vs desk

board

noun
  • A committee that manages the business of an organization, e.g., a board of directors. 

  • A rebound. 

  • The wall that surrounds an ice hockey rink. 

  • A container for holding pre-dealt cards that is used to allow multiple sets of players to play the same cards. 

  • Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard. 

  • The distance a sailing vessel runs between tacks when working to windward. 

  • A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making. 

  • A device (e.g., switchboard) containing electrical switches and other controls and designed to control lights, sound, telephone connections, etc. 

  • Regular meals or the amount paid for them in a place of lodging. 

  • The side of a ship. 

  • A level or stage having a particular layout. 

  • A flat surface with markings for playing a board game. 

verb
  • To step or climb onto or otherwise enter a ship, aircraft, train or other conveyance. 

  • To capture an enemy ship by going alongside and grappling her, then invading her with a boarding party 

  • To receive meals and lodging in exchange for money. 

  • To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation 

  • To cover with boards or boarding. 

  • To provide someone with meals and lodging, usually in exchange for money. 

  • Antonyms: alight, disembark 

  • To hit (someone) with a wooden board. 

  • To write something on a board, especially a blackboard or whiteboard. 

desk

noun
  • A department tasked with a particular topic or focus in certain types of businesses, such as newspapers and financial trading firms. 

  • A reading table or lectern to support the book from which the liturgical service is read, differing from the pulpit from which the sermon is preached; also (especially in the United States), a pulpit. Hence, used symbolically for the clerical profession. 

  • A table, frame, or case, in past centuries usually with a sloping top but now usually with a flat top, for the use of writers and readers. It often has a drawer or repository underneath. 

verb
  • To equip with a desk or desks. 

  • To shut up, as in a desk; to treasure. 

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