Meaning & use
footboard
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Meanings
nouncountable
The upright board or panel at the lower end of a bed, where your feet rest.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a footboard or the footboard; the plural is footboards.
Patterns
- the footboard of a bed
- a wooden footboard
She sat on the footboard of the bed while she tied her shoes.
The old bed had a carved wooden footboard and a matching headboard.
He hung his towel over the footboard to dry.
nouncountabletechnical
A small platform or board at the front of a carriage, truck, or machine where a person can stand.
Grammar: Countable and often used with on: stand on the footboard.
Patterns
- stand on the footboard
- the footboard of a carriage
The driver's assistant stood on the footboard as the truck moved slowly forward.
He lost his balance on the footboard and jumped clear.
Word forms
| plural | footboards |
|---|
Common combinations
- sit on the footboard
- The children liked to sit on the footboard and chat.
- wooden footboard
- A tall wooden footboard made the bed look old-fashioned.
- climb onto the footboard
- He climbed onto the footboard to reach the top shelf.
- the footboard of the bed
- There was a crack in the footboard of the bed.
Synonyms and how they differ
- end board
- A general term for a board at the end of something; footboard is the specific word for the end of a bed.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: footboard or headboard? footboard or footbridge?
footboard vs headboard
A headboard is at the top of the bed behind your head; a footboard is at the bottom, near your feet.
footboard vs footbridge
A footbridge is a bridge for people to walk across; a footboard is part of a bed or vehicle.
Practice
Which part of a bed is at the end where your feet rest?
Choose one answer.
The footboard is the panel at the foot of the bed; the headboard is at the head end, so it is the opposite.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “footboard”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.