bed and board

English

Etymology

From Middle English bed and bord.

Noun

bed and board (uncountable)

1. A place to sleep and eat; bed and breakfast; the services provided by an inn or similar establishment.
   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. 4, Abbot Hugo”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):

     For, alas, the Ideal always has to grow in the Real, and to seek out its bed and board there, often in a very sorry way. No beautifullest Poet is a Bird-of-Paradise, living on perfumes; sleeping in the aether with outspread wings. The Heroic, independent of bed and board, is found in Drury Lane Theatre only

2. Full connubial relations.

Derived terms

• divorce from bed and board
• separation from bed and board

Related terms

• food and board

Translations

A place to sleep and eat

• German: Kost und Logis (de)
• Spanish: cama y alojamiento

Connubial relations

• German: Tisch und Bett