streamline

[streem-lahyn]

noun

a teardrop line of contour offering the least possible resistance to a current of air, water, etc.
the path of a particle that is flowing steadily and without turbulence in a fluid past an object.

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

to make streamlined.
to alter in order to make more efficient or simple.

adjective

streamlined.

Origin of streamline

First recorded in 1870–75; stream + line¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for streamlining

distribute, place, plan, file, conduct, establish, assign, fashion, carve, frame, construct, embody, produce, build, forge, mold, facilitate, reduce, clarify, shorten

Examples from the Web for streamlining

Contemporary Examples of streamlining

If the answer is no, relaxing them is acceptable, for the common good of rationalizing and streamlining airport security.
TSA Says Yes to Small Knives, Then No—What’s the Problem?
Patrick Smith
April 26, 2013
Bulk purchases of supplies, and streamlining bureaucratic overhead, can save real money.
Can We Really Give Everyone Access to High Quality Preschool?
Megan McArdle
February 13, 2013
For an embrace of the Simpson-Bowles commission plan for debt reduction and a streamlining of the U.S. tax codes?
Obama’s Nightmare: Reelected in 2012 but Republicans Take the Senate
Thomas E. Cronin
December 29, 2011

Historical Examples of streamlining

Streamlining, in the vacuum, of course wasn't necessary, either.
The Planet Strappers
Raymond Zinke Gallun
It made this tremendous speed by streamlining and through sheer power.
The Black Star Passes
John W Campbell
This streamlining of undergarments helped the lady of fashion to maintain a desirably svelte figure.
Women's Bathing and Swimming Costume in the United States
Claudia B. Kidwell

British Dictionary definitions for streamlining

streamline

noun

a contour on a body that offers the minimum resistance to a gas or liquid flowing around it
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

verb (tr)

to make streamlined

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 streamlining

streamline

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."

streamline

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

streamlining in Science

streamline

[strēm′līn′]

To construct or reconstruct an object to reduce the amount of drag it undergoes as it moves through a fluid, especially air or water.

streamlining 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.

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.