breadboard

• bread board

From bread +‎ board. Regarding definition 3: the etymology is either that electric circuits used to be prototyped on actual bread boards (definition 1) populated with nails, or that solder breadboards have lots of holes and are usually brown (they visually resemble a slice of bread), or a merging of the two. The etymology is less obvious today given the popularity of solderless breadboards.

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breadboard (plural breadboards)

1. A cutting board, especially for cutting bread.
2. A pull-out cutting board underneath a counter, found in many kitchens.
   • 1992 June 21, “The Breadboard Ornithopter”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     One way or the other, it was always back to Mother's breadboard on Monday.

3. (electronics) A device used to build a (usually temporary) prototype of an electronic circuit and for experimenting with circuit designs. Both solder and solderless versions are available; the solderless type are easily reusable.
   • 2011 August 2, Keith Brindley, Starting Electronics‎^[2], page 18:

     If you are following a book like Starting Electronics, however, a breadboard is even more useful. […] Differences lie between breadboards in the spacings and the positionings of the holes, and the number of holes in each group.

breadboard (third-person singular simple present breadboards, present participle breadboarding, simple past and past participle breadboarded)

1. (transitive) To set up (an electronic device) on a breadboard.
   • 1990, Delton T. Horn, 49 electronic 6-volt projects, page 9:

     If the breadboarded circuit operates incorrectly or erratically, try relocating some of the components.

   • 1998, Jim Williams, The Art and Science of Analog Circuit Design, page 114:

     There are many commercial breadboarding systems, but almost all of them are designed to facilitate the breadboarding of digital systems, where noise immunities are hundreds of millivolts or more.