above-board

See also: aboveboard and above board

English

Alternative forms

aboveboard, above board (adverb)

Etymology

From above +‎ board (“table”). First attested in 1610. Said by Johnson to have been borrowed from gamblers, who, when they change their cards, put their hands under the table.

Pronunciation

(US) IPA^(key): /əˈbʌvˌbɔɹd/
Audio (US): (file)

Adjective

above-board (not comparable)

In open sight; without trick, concealment, or deception. [First attested in the late 16^th century.]^[1]
fair and aboveboard
- 2013 May 15, Stephen Lemons, “Joe Arpaio's Fave Pay-triot John Philip Sousa IV Fires Back, Makes Bank Off Peddling Joe”, in Phoenix New Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 11 March 2019:
  Nothing illegal about any of this to my knowledge. Indeed, this is the very above-board racket of running an independent political committee. Everyone does it. Left, right, center and none of the above. And anyway, why shouldn't a true pay-triot get paid?
- 2018 March 26, Maya Kosoff, “Zuckerberg hits users with the hard truth: You agreed to this”, in Vanity Fair‎^[2]:
  Over the weekend, Android owners were displeased to discover that Facebook had been scraping their text-message and phone-call metadata, in some cases for years, an operation hidden in the fine print of a user agreement clause until Ars Technica reported. Facebook was quick to defend the practice as entirely aboveboard—small comfort to those who are beginning to realize that, because Facebook is a free service, they and their data are by necessity the products.

Translations

straightforward, transparent

Dutch: op eerlijke wijze, openlijk (nl)
Finnish: rehellinen (fi), avoin (fi), salailematon, läpinäkyvä (fi)
German: einwandfrei (de), ehrlich (de), offen (de), korrekt (de), (die Karten liegen) auf dem Tisch (idiom)
Maori: matanui
Spanish: legítimo (es)
Ukrainian: чесний m (česnyj), відвертий m (vidvertyj)

Adverb

above-board (not comparable)

Honestly; openly. [First attested in the late 16^th century.]^[1]

Synonyms

straightforward, transparent

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “above-board”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 7.

[SOED-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “above-board”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 7.

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