main line
noun
a principal line or route of a railroad, as contrasted with a branch or secondary one.
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
It has only once been shut for longer since it opened in 1886 - that was when electric wires were installed 10 years ago as part of the £2.8bn south Wales main line electrification project.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
The extensive corroborating evidence is just one way the prosecution is cutting off the defense’s main line of attack.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2024
The service was established by Congress as the main line of defense for children who are exploited online.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 22, 2024
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
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
Lev, 49, started reaching out to other parents here, in Philadelphia’s wealthy Main Line suburbs, and he found hundreds of families who felt the same way.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
Network Rail said snow patrol locomotives had been running on the Highland Main Line, Aberdeen-Inverness and Far North Lines but said the weather and road conditions for its response teams were treacherous.
From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2026
The £26m project they'll be working on this Christmas is one of the biggest scheduled across the country: Hanslope Junction, a crucial part of the West Coast Main Line, which is wearing out.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2025
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.
