conveyor belt

American  

noun

Machinery.

1. an endless belt or chain, set of rollers, etc., for carrying materials or objects short distances, as from one part of a building to another.

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conveyor belt British  

noun

1. a flexible endless strip of fabric or linked plates driven by rollers and used to transport objects, esp in a factory

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Etymology

Origin of conveyor belt

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

Even as it tries to cut back, the PIF has been a conveyor belt of costly new investments.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 18, 2026

This system powers a molecular conveyor belt that moves along the surface of the cell.

From Science Daily • Mar. 13, 2026

Hundreds of discarded batteries rattle along a conveyor belt into a crusher in a remote plant in northern India, fuelling a multi-billion-dollar industry that is bolstering the country's geopolitical ambitions.

From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026

Patients were wheeled in and out of the colonoscopy room with the efficiency of a conveyor belt.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 3, 2026

I imagine each book traveling on a white conveyor belt toward rectangular white stations where robotic white arms dust, scrape, spray, and otherwise sterilize it until it’s finally deemed clean enough to come to me.

From "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon