DEW line

American  

[doo, dyoo] / du, dyu /

noun

1. a 3,000-mile (4,800-km) long network of radar stations north of the Arctic Circle, maintained by the United States and Canada for providing advance warning of the approach of hostile planes, missiles, etc.

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DEW line British  

/ djuː /

acronym

1. distant early warning line, a network of radar stations situated mainly in Arctic regions to give early warning of aircraft or missile attack on North America

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Etymology

Origin of DEW line

First recorded in 1955–60; D(istant) E(arly) W(arning)

Example Sentences

Soviet planes constantly probe the DEW line radars that reach from Alaska across Canada.

From Time Magazine Archive

The new airways-modernization plan envisions a network of aerial highways controlled by 100 huge radar scanners much like those at military DEW line stations.

From Time Magazine Archive

Unlike Miss Carson, however, Russell is not a sentry on the ecological DEW line.

From Time Magazine Archive

Physicist Jerome B. Wiesner, who helped develop some of the advanced radar for the DEW line, has warned that Russia's air-defense system "appears to be better than our own."

From Time Magazine Archive

On Thursday morning all broadcasts broke off to report that the DEW line of radars across Canada had reported objects in the air moving across the North Pole toward the United States.

From Long Ago, Far Away by Leinster, Murray