airlinen.

Brit.

/ˈɛːlʌɪn/, U.S.

/ˈɛrˌlaɪn/

Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: air n.¹, line n.²

Etymology: < air n.¹ + line n.² With sense 2 compare earlier airway n. 2.

a. Chiefly U.S. A direct line through the air; a straight line between two points on the earth's surface.

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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > a straight course > [noun]

cut1577

forthright1609

airline1813

beeline1828

crow-fly1846

crow-flight1875

society > travel > means of travel > route or way > [noun] > straight or direct > as the crow flies

airline1813

1813 J. Quincy in Deb. Congress 1 Jan. 544 They will not rigidly observe any air-lines or water-lines in enforcing their necessary levies.

1829 J. F. Cooper Wept of Wish-ton-wish ii. 27 This clearing, which by an air line might have been half a mile from the place where his horse had stopped.

1852 G. Grote Hist. Greece IX. ii. lxx. 160 If we measure on Kiepert's map the rectilineal distance, the air-line is 170 English miles.

1895 Outing Dec. 214/2 Pursuing an even air-line route across the roughest country.

1919 Sphere 22 Mar. 254/2 Flying routes will soon show a tendency to become fixed, just as birds fly along ‘air lines’ from point to point.

1949 Western Folklore 8 253 They discovered the Indians near the present town of Briceland, which is nine miles by wagon road and three miles by air line straight west of Garberville.

1978 Geogr. Jrnl. 144 253 The Lapp village of Koutokeino, 112 miles..south of Alte by Brooke's reckoning, though only 70..in an air line.

1997 Houston Chron. (Nexis) 2 Mar. 4 Airline Drive, considered the route to Dallas as the crow flies in an ‘air line’.

†b. attributive. Designating something sent through the air. Obsolete.Apparently an isolated use.The reference is to letters dropping through the air as a theosophical manifestation in India.

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1888 R. Kipling In Black & White 66 The Religion never seemed to get much beyond its first manifestations; though it added an air-line postal dak, and orchestral effects.

2. An air transport service; a regular succession of aircraft flying between certain places; (in later use) a company or other body operating aircraft in public service. Cf. line n.² 22.The 1890 quots both refer to imagined air transport services (in quot. 1890² using dirigibles or balloons attached to wires).

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society > travel > air or space travel > transport by air > [noun] > public service airline

airline1890

air service1911

airway1920

line1920

1890 Eng. Mechanic & World of Sci. 14 Feb. 499/2 Leaving for Quito, by the direct air line, last August.

1890 I. Donnelly Caesar's Column i. 11 The depot grounds of the great inter-continental air-lines.

1914 Argus (Melbourne) 16 July 13 The Defence flying school at Point Cook has been inaccessible..except by air line.

1927 C. A. Lindbergh ‘We’ viii. 143 To-day the properly operated commercial airline compares favorably in safety with any other means of transportation.

1937 Discovery May 163/2 Few people realise how vast is the network of air lines which now links up the United States with Central and South America.

1956 Times 2 Feb. 5/1 Work will begin this month on the..platform above District Line railway tracks close to Cromwell Road, Earls Court, for future use as London's main air line terminal.

1974 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 21 Feb. 5/4 The airlines have introduced chute carousels to distribute bags on arrivals.

2002 J. Bindloss & C. Lucas Scotland's Highlands & Islands 87/2 Unlike the ‘full-service’ airlines, no-frills carriers..often make one-way tickets available at half the return fare.

3. Frequently in form air line or air-line. A pipe or tube conveying or containing air under pressure.

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society > occupation and work > equipment > pump > [noun] > other parts of pumps

pump box1422

pump-staff1422

pump-tree1617

branch1659

pump rod1731

pear-gauge1753

barometer-gauge1783

bucket-door1797

head1824

balance-bob1838

suction primer1875

cup-leather1889

airline1893

the world > matter > gas > air > moving air > [noun] > passage, duct, or tube for conducting air

ventiduct1686

air passage1771

air tube1877

air pipe1889

airline1893

1893 F. Richards in Amer. Machinist 13 Apr. 4/4 In this case the air line is outside and above the steam line.

1910 Compressed Air Mag. Apr. 5622/2 At the end of the stroke the piston trips the tappet in the auxiliary air-line, causing the main valve to close.

1930 R. Peele Compressed Air Plant (ed. 5) xv. 273 Air lines are tested from time to time by allowing the air at full pressure to remain in the closed transmission circuit long enough to observe the gage pressure.

1971 Daily Tel. 12 Nov. (Colour Suppl.) 22/4 Any big truck lives and dies, steers and brakes, on its air-lines.

1999 Bike Dec. 132/2 Make sure you check the [tyre] pressures when they're stone cold, and never at a garage airline.

Compounds

C1. General attributive (in sense 2), as airline company, airline passenger, airline ticket, etc.

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1910 N.Y. Times 27 July 1/6 They will take the matter up with the air line company.

1919 Oxnard (Calif.) 20 Jan. 1/6 (heading) Airline routes now being designated.

1937 Times 2 Nov. 12/4 Surely the safety of airline passengers should be just as essential.

1949 Baltimore Sun 16 Aug. 12/1 The airline hostess—the personable young woman..who comforts jumpy passengers.

1969 ‘R. Stark’ Blackbird (1970) iii. 23 We have an airline ticket for this evening.

1978 S. Brill Teamsters vii. 297 The airline industry was being targeted for a recruiting drive.

1990 Flight Internat. 25 July 45/2 ‘Human error’, the cause of 60% of airline accidents worldwide.

1991 Business Life May 22/2 The airport hotel..a rest camp for overseas airline crews.

2006 Observer 10 Sept. (Escape section) 3/4 After an airline crash the first thing accident investigators look for is the black box.

C2.

airline food n. food served on a commercial passenger flight.

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1937 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Jrnl. 26 Sept. (Mag.) 1/2 I take a sample tray properly served and tell the manager the story of airline food.

2002 Observer 10 Nov. (Food Monthly Suppl.) 31/1 The gravy was Oxo-ish. It tasted like airline food.

airline pilot n. a professional pilot who flies passenger aircraft for an airline.

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society > travel > air or space travel > people who fly in aircraft or spacecraft > [noun] > person in control of aircraft or spacecraft > person in control of aircraft > other aeroplane pilots

test pilot1917

airline pilot1922

bush pilot1936

brown shoe1946

tug pilot1948

1922 Times 2 June 6/3 In the early days of 1919 the air-line pilots of that period would have gone through it [sc. the fog] or over it.

2003 W. Gibson Pattern Recognition iv. 34 A friend of her father's, an airline pilot.

airline steward n. = air steward n. at air n.¹ Compounds 2.

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society > travel > air or space travel > people who fly in aircraft or spacecraft > [noun] > crew of aircraft or spacecraft > aircraft cabin crew > members of

air steward1922

air hostess1931

steward1931

stewardess1931

airline stewardess1933

air stewardess1936

hostess1936

airline steward1937

flight attendant1947

hostie1960

1937 Chicago Tribune 21 July 4/3 An air line steward spilled scalding tea on his 2 year old daughter.

1988 R. Shilts Band played On iii. viii. 79 Gaetan cajoled an airline steward friend to go with him to St. Vincent's to visit an old trick.

airline stewardess n. = air stewardess n. at air n.¹ Compounds 2.

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