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streamlined

[streem-lahynd]
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adjective
  1. having a contour designed to offer the least possible resistance to a current of air, water, etc.; optimally shaped for motion or conductivity.
  2. designed or organized to give maximum efficiency; compact.
  3. modernized; up-to-date.
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Origin of streamlined

First recorded in 1890–95; streamline + -ed2
Related formsun·stream·lined, adjective

streamline

[streem-lahyn]
noun
  1. a teardrop line of contour offering the least possible resistance to a current of air, water, etc.
  2. the path of a particle that is flowing steadily and without turbulence in a fluid past an object.
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verb (used with object), stream·lined, stream·lin·ing.
  1. to make streamlined.
  2. to alter in order to make more efficient or simple.
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adjective
  1. streamlined.
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Origin of streamline

First recorded in 1870–75; stream + line1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for streamlined

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The flat, streamlined bulk of a flying machine, shiny and new.

    The Eternal Wall

    Raymond Zinke Gallun

  • That's just streamlined muscle you're looking at, sweetheart!

    Legacy

    James H Schmitz

  • They had to be streamlined to pierce the thick, resisting part of the atmosphere.

    Space Platform

    Murray Leinster

  • Headings of balance sheets have been streamlined for online viewing.

  • The compact assembly, streamlined for this purpose, was all ready for the morrow.

    Star Born

    Andre Norton

British Dictionary definitions for streamlined

streamlined

adjective
  1. offering or designed to offer the minimum resistance to the flow of a gas or liquid
  2. made more efficient, esp by simplifying
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streamline

noun
  1. a contour on a body that offers the minimum resistance to a gas or liquid flowing around it
  2. an imaginary line in a fluid such that the tangent at any point indicates the direction of the velocity of a particle of the fluid at that point
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verb (tr)
  1. to make streamlined
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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 streamlined

streamline

n.

1868, "line drawn from point to point, so that its direction is everywhere that of the motion of the fluid" [Lamb, "Hydrodynamics," 1906], from stream (n.) + line (n.). The adjective is attested from 1898, "free from turbulence," 1907 in sense of "shaped so that the flow around it is smooth."

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streamline

v.

1913, "give a streamline form to," from streamline (n.). From 1936 in the extended sense of "simplify and organize." Related: Streamlined; streamlining.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
streamlined in Science

streamline

[strēm′līn′]
  1. To construct or reconstruct an object to reduce the amount of drag it undergoes as it moves through a fluid, especially air or water.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
streamlined in Culture

streamline

The line traced by a liquid or gas as it moves. Streamlines are most commonly used in describing the flow of a liquid or gas around a solid object.

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Note

A “streamlined” design is one in which objects that move through a gas or liquid are shaped to match these lines, and therefore reduce the energy required to produce that motion.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.