the manner with which one acts in the presence of another person or persons, especially in a first encounter; the surroundings of a place; arrival or accessibility by water
“Au premier abord, la caouanne est une tortue à très grosse tête.” — At first glance, the loggerhead is a turtle with a very large head.
Inherited from Middle French [Term?], from aborder, from Old French aborder (“to hit a ship in order to board it”), from bord (“side of a ship, edge”), from Frankish *bord (“side of a ship or vessel”), from Proto-Germanic *burdą (“edge, border, side”), from Proto-Indo-European *bheredh- (“to cut”). Cognate with Old High German bort (“edge, rim, rand”), Old English bord (“ship, side of a ship”), Old Norse borð (“edge, side of a vessel”). More at board.