/spring"bawrd', -bohrd'/ , n.
1. a flexible board, projecting over water, from which divers leap or spring.
2. a flexible board used as a takeoff in vaulting, tumbling, etc., to increase the height of leaps.
3. something that supplies the impetus or conditions for a beginning, change, or progress; a point of departure: a lecture to serve as a springboard for a series of seminars.
v.t. , v.i.
4. to impel or launch on or as if on a springboard.
[ 1865-70; SPRING + BOARD ]