pipeline

[pahyp-lahyn]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pipeline ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a long tubular conduit or series of pipes, often underground, with pumps and valves for flow control, used to transport crude oil, natural gas, water, etc., especially over great distances.

a route, channel, or process along which something passes or is provided at a steady rate; means, system, or flow of supply or supplies: Freighters and cargo planes are a pipeline for overseas goods.

a channel of information, especially one that is direct, privileged, or confidential; inside source; reliable contact.

verb (used with object), pipe·lined, pipe·lin·ing.

to convey by or as if by pipeline: to pipeline oil from the far north to ice-free ports; to pipeline graduates into the top jobs.

Idioms

in the pipeline,

Informal.in the process of being developed, provided, or completed; in the works; under way.
Government Informal.(of funds) authorized but not spent.

Origin of pipeline

First recorded in 1855–60; pipe¹ + line¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for pipeline

vent, hose, duct, sewer, vessel, line, almanac, journal, list, program, diary, agenda, timetable, table, lineup, docket, card, chronology, pipe, cylinder

Examples from the Web for pipeline

Contemporary Examples of pipeline

The State Department found that with high oil prices, the tar sands would be mined for oil, pipeline or no.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows: Jan. 4
PunditFact.com
January 5, 2015
The EPA felt that the State Department had not looked carefully enough at the impact of the pipeline if oil prices fell.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows: Jan. 4
PunditFact.com
January 5, 2015
But with the pipeline, transportation costs drop and production would be higher.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows: Jan. 4
PunditFact.com
January 5, 2015
After all, unlike the other vaccines currently in the pipeline, this one is alive and replication-competent.
Uh Oh: Ebola Vaccine Trials Stop
Leigh Cowart
December 19, 2014
Asked whether she should have mentioned the pipeline project, he merely said, “I thought her speech was great.”
Hillary Praises Fracking, Stays Silent on Keystone
David Freedlander
December 2, 2014

Historical Examples of pipeline

Why, brother, Mr. Pipeline understands it a great deal better than you do.
A Pessimist
Robert Timsol
At the end of this pipeline was a big pile of wet sand from the lake.
Tom Slade's Double Dare
Percy Keese Fitzhugh
A pipeline from the oilfields at Stalin (formerly Kucove) transmits the oil to the port of Vlore.
Area Handbook for Albania
Eugene K. Keefe
The Senate has already passed the truth-in-lending bill, the fire safety bill, and the pipeline safety laws.
Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to 2006
Various
Naputul ang kuniksyun sa túbu, The connection in the pipeline broke.
A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan
John U. Wolff

British Dictionary definitions for pipeline

pipeline

noun

a long pipe, esp underground, used to transport oil, natural gas, etc, over long distances

a medium of communication, esp a private one

in the pipeline in the process of being completed, delivered, or produced

verb (tr)

to convey by pipeline

to supply with a pipeline

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pipeline

1859, "continuous line of pipes," from pipe (n.1) + line (n.). Figurative sense of "channel of communication" is from 1921; surfer slang meaning "hollow part of a large wave" is attested by 1963.