Breadboard
Breadboard turns up in 2 fields: photonics, electronics. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Breadboard in photonics
A rigid, flat plate drilled with a grid of threaded holes on which optics are mounted, smaller than a full optical table.
A stiff honeycomb-core or solid metal plate with tapped holes, M6 on a 25 mm grid in metric labs and 1/4-20 on a 1 inch grid in imperial ones. Breadboards build portable or raised sub-assemblies on top of an optical table, which is the same idea at full scale with vibration-isolating legs. Mixing metric and imperial hardware is a classic lab frustration.
"Build the doubler on its own breadboard so we can lift the whole thing off the table if the experiment moves."
Breadboard in electronics
A reusable platform with a grid of spring-clip holes used for prototyping electronic circuits without soldering.
A rectangular plastic board containing an internal grid of metal spring clips, used to quickly build and test circuit prototypes. Components and jumper wires are pushed into the holes to form electrical connections. Because no soldering is involved, parts can be easily swapped, removed, and reused during the design phase.
"Grab a breadboard and throw together a quick 555 timer circuit so we can test the LED blink rate."