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in the pipeline

Idioms  

  1. In process, under way, as in The blueprints for the new machine are in the pipeline, but it will take months to get approval . [ Colloquial ; 1940s] Also see in the works .

  2. Budgeted for something but not yet spent, as in There's $5 million more in the pipeline for the city schools . [ Colloquial ; second half of 1900s]

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.