Definition of "freeboard" [freeboard]

• Nautical The distance between the water line and the freeboard deck of a ship. (noun)
• The distance between normal water level and the top of a structure, such as a dam, that impounds or restrains water. (noun)
• The distance between the ground and the undercarriage of an automobile. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "That she was low "between decks" is demonstrated by the fact that it was necessary to "cut down" the Pilgrims 'shallop -- an open sloop, of certainly not over 30 feet in length, some 10 tons burden, and not very high "freeboard" -- "to stow" her under the MAY-FLOWER'S spar deck."
• "Cryosat-2 will measure the thickness of floating ice "freeboard" - the bit sticking above the surface - which will enable scientists to calculate the total thickness of floes by adding that to the 7/8ths of ice "draft" which is submerged."
• "They will now send their slowest vessels and the ones with the lowest 'freeboard' - the distance from the lowest point of the deck to the waterline - further east."