- panel
-
I. noun
Etymology: Middle English, piece of cloth, jury list on a piece of parchment, from Anglo-French, from Vulgar Latin *pannellus, diminutive of Latin pannus
Date: 14th century
1.
a.
(1) a schedule containing names of persons summoned as jurors
(2) the group of persons so summoned
(3) jury 1
b.
(1) a group of persons selected for some service (as investigation or arbitration) <a panel of experts> (2) a group of persons who discuss before an audience a topic of public interest; also panel discussion (3) a group of entertainers or guests engaged as players in a quiz or guessing game on a radio or television program 2. a separate or distinct part of a surface: as a. a fence section ; hurdle b. (1) a thin usually rectangular board set in a frame (as in a door) (2) a usually sunken or raised section of a surface set off by a margin (3) a flat usually rectangular piece of construction material (as plywood or precast masonry) made to form part of a surface c. a vertical section of fabric (as a gore) d. comic strip; also a frame of a comic strip 3. a thin flat piece of wood on which a picture is painted; also a painting on such a surface 4. a. a section of a switchboard b. a usually vertical mount for controls or dials (as of instruments of measurement) II. transitive verb (-eled or -elled; -eling or -elling) Date: 15th century to furnish or decorate with panels <paneled the living room>
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.