Plural of dashboard; panels with instruments and controls in a vehicle, or digital displays showing important information and data at a glance.
From 'dash' (likely from a wooden board that protected against mud and splashes) + 'board.' Originally the physical barrier on carriages and early cars, it evolved into the instrument panel itself.
The word 'dashboard' is a perfect fossil—it comes from an actual wooden board on horse carriages that stopped mud from 'dashing' onto passengers, and the name stuck even after cars had no mud to worry about, proving that word origins are often hilariously practical rather than poetic.
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