airline

[ air-lahyn ]
See synonyms for airline on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Aeronautics.

    • a system furnishing air transport, usually scheduled, between specified points.

    • the airplanes, airports, etc., of such a system.

    • Often airlines . a company that owns or operates such a system.

  2. a direct line; beeline.

  1. an airhose used to pipe air to a deep-sea diver, pneumatic drill, etc.

adjective
  1. of or on an airline.

Origin of airline

1
First recorded in 1910–15; air1 + line1

Other definitions for air-line (2 of 2)

air-line
[ air-lahyn ]

adjective
  1. straight; direct; traveling a direct route: Some railroads advertise air-line routes between stations.

Origin of air-line

2
An Americanism dating back to 1805–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use airline in a sentence

  • It was known, in advance, by the combination, that the working up of the corner in Muscogee Air Line would be a long operation.

    Sevenoaks | J. G. Holland
  • The corner in Muscogee Air Line, was as evasive as a huckleberry in a mouth bereft of its armament.

    Sevenoaks | J. G. Holland
  • They had been twelve hours on the wing and had covered a distance which, by air line, measured more than five hundred miles.

  • Distances are in kilometers; all are map (air line) distances, unless otherwise indicated.

  • The Seaboard Air Line, therefore, when it gave to this little switching road for a twenty-mile haul, about forty per cent.

British Dictionary definitions for airline

airline

/ (ˈɛəˌlaɪn) /


noun
    • a system or organization that provides scheduled flights for passengers or cargo

    • (as modifier): an airline pilot

  1. a hose or tube carrying air under pressure

  1. mainly US a beeline

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012