Prostitute, streetwalker, hooker. Derived from the standard noun панель (sidewalk, pavement), which morphed in criminal and urban slang into a metonymy for street prostitution — referring to the physical pavement where sex workers traditionally stand to find clients. In everyday slang, it is used to describe the lifestyle, the industry, or a person working on the street (она пошла работать на панель — “she went to work the streets”). The derivative phrase панельная дура is also used as a derogatory insult.
Судя по известным мне деталям её биографии на панель она пошла исключительно из за внезапной денежной нужды, когда потеряла работу и не смогла своевременно найти другую.
According to the details of her biography that I know, she started turning tricks solely because of a sudden need for money when she lost her job and could not find another one in time.
(Аноним_461859 @ sextalk.ru, 05/2011)
