to board up
26
3.8
- phrasal verb
- /bɔrd ʌp/
:
cubrir con tablas
- Before the storm hit, we decided to board up all the windows to keep our home safe.
- boarded-up windows
- boarded-up house
- boarded-up building
People, you know, they're boarding up Beverly Hills.
- People, you know, they're boarding up Beverly Hills.
- This was within a few hours prior to the shooting in front of a boarded up car dealership.
- Duane Reade, CBS all the all the delis, they're, they're closed up, they're boarded up.
- I think the zombies are a catalyst for all the tensions between the people that are in the boarded up house.
- I mean, yeah, you know, every business in New York City was boarded up, you know, boarded up several times for months.
Examples
-
Most of the windows were boarded up.
-
We boarded up the front window.
-
I should board up the windows.
-
We should stay in there and keep boarding up the windows.
-
And since these windows are all boarded up, we'll be safe for now.
-
They said board up your windows.
-
All of the doors and windows have been boarded up, and two cops stand watch.
Fiction book (2000) -
All the houses on this block are boarded up except yours.
Fiction book (1994) -
One whole side of the street has nothing but boarded-up row houses.
Fiction book (1997) -
The front door and small windows were boarded up with scrap lumber.
Fiction book (2000)
Synonyms
2
6.0
To cover a path or floor with long flat boards
To cover a surface with wooden boards
How Secure
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to cover with wooden boards' is directly derivable from combining 'board' (a flat piece of building material) with the particle 'up', which in English phrasal verbs often signals closure, completion, or covering. This compositional pattern is common and predictable, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Board up comes from the simple picture of fixing a wooden board over a door or window. People nail the board 'up' across the opening to keep out wind, rain, or strangers, so board up means 'to cover and protect' a building.