beeline

See also: bee-line

English

WOTD – 15 August 2015

Alternative forms

• bee-line

Etymology

From bee +‎ line, due to the belief that a bee returns to its hive in a straight course.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiːlaɪn/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːlaɪn

Noun

beeline (plural beelines)

1. A very direct or quick path or trip.

   to make / strike a beeline for / to something

   The children made a beeline to the swimming pool.

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
     , Episode 16

     Discussing these and kindred topics they made a beeline across the back of the Customhouse and passed under the Loop Line bridge where a brazier of coke burning in front of a sentrybox or something like one attracted their rather lagging footsteps.

2. (mining, chiefly historical) A dynamite fuse made with a small quantity of dynamite powder along its length, so that the spark travels quickly and at a specific known rate.

Translations

straight course, ignoring established paths of travel

• Bashkir: тура һауа юлы (tura hawa yulı)
• Dutch: rechte lijn
• French: à vol d’oiseau (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Luftlinie (de) f
• Russian: прямиком (ru) (prjamikom)
• Spanish: a vuelo de pájaro

Verb

1. To travel in a straight course, ignoring established paths of travel.

See also

• as the crow flies
• like a martin to his gourd