Engineers and draftsmen use the drawing board for making and modifying drawings on paper with ink or pencil. Different drawing instruments (trisquare, protractor, etc.) are used on it to draw parallel, perpendicular or oblique lines. There are instruments for drawing circles, arcs and other curves too (compass, French curve, etc).

Also known as a drafting table, or draughting table.

The Drawing table is an early form of drawing board which was usually found in a gentleman's private library or study in the pre-industrial era. It was used for drawing, but also for reading oversized books.

The expression "Back to the drawing board" is used when a plan or course of action is unsuccessful and needs to be changed, often drastically.