knifeboard

English

A knife-board omnibus

Etymology

knife +‎ board

Noun

knifeboard (plural knifeboards)

1. A board on which knives are cleaned or polished.
2. (historical, chiefly attributive) A way of arranging benches back to back, resembling a knifeboard; common on the open upper deck of early double-deck omnibuses and trams.

   knifeboard seating

   • Arthur Smith, A Summer Idyll

     On 'busses' knifeboards stretch'd, / The City clerks all tongue-protruded lay.

3. (historical, by extension) An early bus with narrow, restrictive seating; a knifeboard bus.