dashboard

[dash-bawrd, -bohrd]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR dashboard ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

(in an automobile or similar vehicle) a panel beneath the front window having various gauges and accessories for the use of the driver; instrument panel.

Computers.

a user interface or web page that gives a current summary, usually in graphic, easy-to-read form, of key information relating to progress and performance, especially of a business or website: Our managers use an interactive dashboard to monitor employee data. The project dashboard shows all tasks assigned to your team. Test scores are posted on the school dashboard.
a web page or portal that provides links to key information and useful tools on a website: You can see financial reports with just one click from the dashboard. Use the dashboard link to add a location to your blog post.

a board or panel at the front of an open carriage or the like to protect the occupants from mud or dirt cast up by the hoofs of the animals drawing the vehicle.

Origin of dashboard

First recorded in 1840–50; dash¹ + board

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for dashboard

Contemporary Examples of dashboard

It means pushing every police department to send their cops out with body and dashboard cameras.
Mike Brown Dies, a Generation Comes Alive
Roland S. Martin
November 25, 2014
The Ferguson Police do have two dashboard cams, but Chief Tom Jackson says he lacks the $3,000 per camera cost to install them.
If Ferguson P.D. Is Too Broke to Buy Body Cameras, Let’s Do It For Them
Michael Daly
August 18, 2014
The front passenger, 15-year-old Amy Rademaker, was trapped between the seat, the dashboard, and the side door.
The Cops Who Found Out the Truth About GM's Deadly Cars—in 2006
Michael Daly
July 17, 2014
A closer reading of the Sleeprate dashboard found that both it and the PSG detected an elevated heart rate.
How I Finally Got to the Bottom of My Insomnia
Gregory Ferenstein
June 26, 2014
The website Hybridcars.com publishes a monthly dashboard of sales.
Virginia Makes an End Run Around Gas Taxes
Daniel Gross
January 16, 2013

Historical Examples of dashboard

He hauled the microphone from its cubby in the dashboard and spoke the code words.
Raiders Invisible
Desmond Winter Hall
It eddied through the sulky between the dashboard and the curtained sides.
Cy Whittaker's Place
Joseph C. Lincoln
The dolls were arranged in a row against the back of the dashboard.
Mary-'Gusta
Joseph C. Lincoln
The reins he had tucked between the edge of the dashboard and the whip socket.
Keziah Coffin
Joseph C. Lincoln
She lifted the foot, and rested it on the dashboard, bending and twisting it.
The Heart of Thunder Mountain
Edfrid A. Bingham

British Dictionary definitions for dashboard

dashboard

noun

Also called (Brit): fascia the instrument panel in a car, boat, or aircraftSometimes shortened to: dash

obsolete a board at the side of a carriage or boat to protect against splashing

commerce a document presenting the most significant information about a subject on a single page

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for dashboard

1846, from dash (v.) + board (n.1); "board in front of a carriage to stop mud from being splashed ("dashed") into the vehicle by the horse's hoofs." Of motor vehicles, from 1904.