Definition of "instrument panel" [instrument panel]

• A mounted array of instruments used to operate a machine, especially the dashboard of an automotive vehicle, aircraft, or motorboat. Also called instrument board. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "On launch day, the European and American Escorts, although practically indistinguishable in external appearance, shared only two parts—the ashtray and an instrument panel brace."
• "Instantaneously the fire light on the instrument panel went to red and the reflexes built up from combat in the Thud threw my eyes to the hydraulic pressure gauges that indicated the number of pounds of pressure per square inch available to move the flight controls."
• "Anything that dropped during launch would be slammed into the back instrument panel by the G-forces, irretrievable until MECO."