PIPELINE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pipeline mean? 

• PIPELINE (noun)
  The noun PIPELINE has 2 senses:

1. gossip spread by spoken communication

2. a pipe used to transport liquids or gases

  Familiarity information: PIPELINE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PIPELINE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Gossip spread by spoken communication

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

grapevine; pipeline; word of mouth

Context example:

the news of their affair was spread by word of mouth

Hypernyms ("pipeline" is a kind of...):

comment; gossip; scuttlebutt (a report (often malicious) about the behavior of other people)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A pipe used to transport liquids or gases

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

line; pipeline

Context example:

a pipeline runs from the wells to the seaport

Hypernyms ("pipeline" is a kind of...):

pipage; pipe; piping (a long tube made of metal or plastic that is used to carry water or oil or gas etc.)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pipeline"):

gas line (a pipeline used to transport natural gas)

oil pipeline (a pipeline used to transport oil)

Instance hyponyms:

Alaskan pipeline; trans-Alaska pipeline (an oil pipeline that runs 800 miles from wells at Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez)

 Context examples 

The results further suggest the vessels could act as a pipeline between the brain and the immune system.

(NIH researchers uncover drain pipes in our brains, National Institutes of Health)

"This pipeline of gas sustains star formation, explaining how galaxies can make stars on very fast timescales."

(Spiraling filaments feed young galaxies, National Science Foundation’s Division of Astronomical Sciences.)

It's like a pipeline going straight in, says California Institute of Technology professor of physics Christopher Martin, who is lead author of a new paper.

(Spiraling filaments feed young galaxies, National Science Foundation’s Division of Astronomical Sciences.)