When engines were eventually positioned in front of the driver, dashboards protected people from engine heat and splattering motor oil. The first automobiles used dashboards to protect occupants from debris thrown up by the front wheels. #SLAPDASH USED IN PAINT DRIVERS#The dashboard morphed to be the barrier at the front of a horse drawn carriage to protect drivers from mud and debris splashed, or dashed up, by horses’ hooves. In the mid-1800s the dash-board was a small board positioned forward in a sleigh to provide a handhold to get into the driver’s seat or to wrap the reins around when not in use. “He easily won the 100-metre dash in record time.”Īnother strange connection for the word dash occurs with vehicle dashboards, which refer to the control panel displaying instrumentation and controls for operation of the vehicle or aircraft. So, a track event in racing competitions is often referred to as a dash. The expression ‘a dash of rain’ meant a sudden burst or splash of showers.īy combining two words, slap and dash, the meaning intensified the effect of careless and downplayed the violence, and began to be used as an adjective, as in ‘it was done in a slapdash manner".ĭash continued to develop meanings, as when associated with the Middle English dasshen, related to the French dachier, signifying to impel forward. By 1520 the phrase ‘dash to pieces’ was used for a purposeful violent shattering of an object. This meaning is derived from the Swedish work daska meaning to beat or strike. The word dash developed in the 1300s with a meaning to strike suddenly and violently, like waves dashing against the rocks. Thus, we use the phrase, ‘slapped on a coat of paint,’ for a job done carelessly. This also implied the concept to put, place, or throw with careless haste. Since such actions were often done without much warning the word slap acquired the idea of a sudden action. In the 15th century the word slap was used to indicate a strike with an open hand. The Oxford English Dictionary lists the root meaning as doing something with a slap and a dash, an action performed quick and imprecise. The dictionary defines slapdash as doing things carelessly without much thinking, being hasty and sloppy. British poet, John Dryden, wrote, “Down I put the notes slap-dash.” Antonyms of slapdash would be methodical, orderly, organised. The word makes an appearance in the English language around the 17th century. Slapdash is described as haphazard or slipshod. She said, “She is obsessive about things that don’t matter, and slapdash about the things that do matter.” A person complained the other day about an acquaintance that did not seem to acknowledge the importance of things that mattered, at least things that counted according to her.
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