board up

board up

To cover parts of a building (often the windows) with wooden planks. That hurricane is bearing down on us, so we need to leave town as soon as we finish boarding up the windows. I can't believe someone finally bought that old, abandoned house—it's been boarded up for years. This part of town is awfully spooky. It's like people just boarded up their homes and left but never came back.

See also: board, up

boarded up

Covered with wooden planks (especially over the windows), as of an abandoned building. I can't believe someone finally bought that old, boarded up house—it's been empty for years. This part of town is awfully spooky—it's nothing but boarded up and dilapidated old buildings. Because we had to flee the approaching hurricane, we just had to leave the house boarded up and hope for the best.

See also: board, up

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

board something up

to enclose or seal a building or part of a building with boards or panels. We will have to board this house up if we can't sell it. Should I board up the house while I am away that season?

See also: board, up

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

board up

v.

1. To fill or block an opening with boards: The carpenter boarded up the hole in the wall to keep the cold air from coming in. Before the storm, we boarded the windows up.

2. To enclose or seal a building or part of a building with boards: The landlord boarded up the old building to keep trespassers away. Two weeks after the owners closed the motel, they boarded it up.

See also: board, up

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.