Duckboard

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One of a long series of boards laid from side to side as a path across wet or muddy ground; normally used in plural.

    "In an attempt to alleviate the problem, wooden planking, known as duckboards, was placed at the bottom of trenches and across other areas of muddy or waterlogged ground."

  2. 2
    a boardwalk laid across muddy ground wordnet
  3. 3
    Wooden, low walkway or short part of a path with one or more planks, logs, or boards laid after each other lengthwise, often two planks wide.
  4. 4
    A panel of wooden slats typically laid on a concrete floor in a workshop, to reduce fatigue for a person operating a machine tool or working at a bench.

Synonyms

All synonyms
bog boardbog bridgepuncheon

Example

More examples

"In an attempt to alleviate the problem, wooden planking, known as duckboards, was placed at the bottom of trenches and across other areas of muddy or waterlogged ground."

Etymology

Possibly a metaphorical use of a name for a board connecting a duck hutch to a yard.

Related phrases

duckboard bridge

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.