main line
noun
a principal line or route of a railroad, as contrasted with a branch or secondary one.
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main line
1 Americannoun
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a principal line or route of a railroad, as contrasted with a branch or secondary one.
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a principal highway.
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Slang.
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a prominent and readily accessible vein of the body that may be used for a narcotic's injection.
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the act of mainlining.
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Main Line
2
American
noun
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a fashionable residential district west of Philadelphia.
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any fashionable district where socially prominent people live.
main line
British
noun
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railways
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the trunk route between two points, usually fed by branch lines
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( as modifier )
a main-line station
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a main road
verb
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of main line
First recorded in 1835–45
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Rupireddy called Late Stage’s main line dozens of times, but he said no one answered.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
The plans follow a trial of satellite connectivity across operators including LNER, South Western Railway and Great Western Railway, with the technology to be rolled out across nationalised main line services through funding worth £57m.
From BBC ● May 26, 2026
Pike followed the main line — called the trunk line — which had hoses branching off in other directions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2026
Trials have been done using "ropeless creels" which have the main line in a container along with a buoy and these are lowered to the seabed with the creels.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2025
We could avoid the main line of the retreat by keeping to the secondary roads beyond Udine.
From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
Network Rail has warned that the Midland Main Line will remain closed to East Midlands Railway and Thameslink services until the end of the week.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026
In suburbs including Philadelphia’s Main Line, moms and dads are pleading with districts to rein in tech: “These electronics have ruined parenting.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Cardinale grew up in Villanova, Penn., an affluent suburb on Philadelphia’s Main Line, and attended The Haverford School, an all-boys prep school.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
The operator said services along the Highland Main Line, between Inverness and Perth, was running.
From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2026
It’s on the prestigious Main Line, just twenty-five minutes outside Philadelphia, on a rolling campus surrounded by overgrown foliage.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
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.
