adv. phr. often used adjectively. [f. ABOVE prep. + BOARD sb.]
1. ‘In open sight; without artifice or trick. A figurative expression, borrowed from gamesters, who, when they put their hands under the table, are changing their cards.’ J. (He adds, ‘It is used only in familiar language’; but see the quotations.)
a. In orig. use.
1616. Beaum. & Fl., Cust. Country, I. i. Yet if you play not fair play, and above-board too, I have a foolish gin here.
b. fig. Openly, freely; without dissimulation or concealment; also, publicly exhibited.
1628. Earle, Microcosm., lxxvi. 157. One that … does it fair and above-board without legerdemain, and neither sharks for a cup or a reckoning:
1648. Symmons, Vind., 46. Such a disloyal, hypocritical, unchristian, and bloody faction as this now above-board.
1664. H. More, Myst. Iniq., ix. 27. They would have dealt above-board, and like honest men.
1788. Burke, Sp. agst. Hastings, Wks. XIII. 293. All that is in this transaction is fair and above-board.
1871. Freeman, Histor. Ess., Ser. I. iii. 69. Edward’s conduct was throughout honest and aboveboard.
