duckboard means one of a long series of boards laid from side to side as a path across wet or muddy ground; normally used in plural. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why “duckboard” is a great word
DUCKBOARD — [Noun] A board or series of slatted boards laid as a temporary path or flooring over wet or muddy ground. From 'duck' (the bird) + 'board', possibly a metaphorical extension from a board connecting a duck hutch to a yard; first attested in 1917 in the context of World War I trench warfare. Unlike a 'plank,' a general-purpose timber, or a 'footbridge,' a permanent, engineered crossing, a duckboard is a desperate, pragmatic concession to terrain. It is the percussive clatter of boots over a trench's sump, the creaking, moss-slicked slats across a forest bog, the frail grid laid upon gymnasium floodwater—a flimsy architecture asserting human passage against the world’s persistent urge to swallow us whole.
Etymology
Possibly a metaphorical use of a name for a board connecting a duck hutch to a yard.
noun
- 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.”
- 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.
- 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.