(used in the plural) the boarding that surrounds an ice hockey rink
"The goalie dove hard, knocking a puck off the boards and into the crowd's hands."
plural of board
"She spent months studying for her medical boards before finally getting licensed as a surgeon."
Examinations given for entry to college or to qualify for a profession.
In plain English: Boards are flat pieces of wood or other material used to build furniture, floors, or walls.
"The old floorboards creaked loudly under his weight."
Usage: Use "boards" when referring to a set of written examinations required for professional certification or university admission, such as medical boards or law boards. Do not use this term for physical planks or furniture, which remain distinct in meaning from these academic assessments.
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of board
"He boards his horse every morning before heading to work on the ranch."
In plain English: To board something means to get on a vehicle like a bus, plane, or train.
"The children boarded the bus to go to school."
Usage: Do not use "boards" to mean getting on a vehicle in the third person; instead, say that someone boards a bus or plane. This specific usage only applies when describing the action of entering a ship, aircraft, or other mode of transport.
plural of Board
"The new city council boards are scheduled to meet next Tuesday to review the budget changes."
The provided text does not contain an etymology to rewrite; it only instructs you to look at the entry for the base word "board." Without that source information regarding its language of origin and original meaning, I cannot generate a factual sentence about how "boards" entered English or what it originally signified.