[f. WASH sb.; cf. G. waschbrett.]
1. Naut. A board on the side of a boat to prevent the sea breaking over; also, a board on the sill of a lower-deck port, for the same purpose.
1742. Woodroofe, in Hanway’s Trav. (1762), I. II. xvii. 78. The largest boat was towed a-stern, being raised with wash-boards for that purpose.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Passion & Princ., xv. III. 399. She shipped a heavy sea, which washed away all the starboard bulwarks and washboards.
1888. T. T. Wildridge, Northumbria, 134. The structural points of interest in this [ancient] boat are the ‘washboards’ and the wooden pegs.
2. A board round the walls of a room with its edge resting on the floor; a skirting-board. dial.
1828–32. Webster, Wash-board. 2. a board in a room, next to the floor.
1860. Geo. Eliot, Mill on Fl., II. iii. To stand looking out of the study window at the rain, and kicking his foot against the washboard in solitude.
1862. [C. C. Robinson], Dialect of Leeds, Gloss., Washboard (pron. weshboard), the wainscot.
3. † a. A fiat piece of wood fixed on an axis within the barrel of a washing machine, and made to revolve so as to agitate the clothes in the water, Obs. b. U.S. A hardwood board, with a fluted surface or covered with corrugated zinc, on which washerwomen rub clothes in washing.
1799. Hull Advertiser, 29 June, 2/2. Washing machines which move with a pendulum or upright wash-board in the inside.
1882. Howells, in Longman’s Mag., I. 56. Wherever the piano-forte penetrates, lovely woman lifts her fingers from the needle, the broom-handle, and the washboard.
1902. Eliz. L. Banks, Newspaper Girl, 158. Clothes washed by her own hands on an American washboard in a big wooden tub.
