# mainline
## English
### Etymology

From main +‎ line.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmeɪnˌlaɪn/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)

### Adjective

mainline (not comparable)
* Normal, principal or standard.
    Synonym: mainstream
** 2010, Steven M. Studebaker, Pentecostalism and Globalization:At a time when mainline denominations are engaged in massive closures of small rural churches, independent charismatics are strategically helping to rechurch rural Canada.
** 2021 July 9, Michelle Goldberg, “The Christian Right Is in Decline, and It’s Taking America With It”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:This doesn’t necessarily mean Christians are joining mainline congregations — the survey measures self-identification, not church affiliation. It is, nevertheless, a striking turnabout after years when mainline Protestantism was considered moribund and evangelical Christianity full of dynamism.
* (rail transport) Of or pertaining to the principal route or line of a railway.
* (rail transport) Of or pertaining to a surface railway as distinct from an underground, elevated or light rail one.
* (chess) Of a sequence of opening moves: being part of a main line ("a standard sequence of opening moves considered to be best play").
** 2006 May 7, Robert Byrne, “For Most Players, Speed Chess Is Like a Keystone Kops Melee”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 2023-02-01:After 3 e5 the Czech Benoni Defense is created. Unlike the mainline 3 e6, which aims for tactical counterplay in the center, Black aims for solidity there. He will choose later what flank to attack on.
** 2010 May 21, Leonard Barden, “Nigel Short shows benefit of experience during series with Anish Giri”, in The Guardian‎:Short's pragmatic approach to the match was to avoid mainline theory and the teenager's computer preparation.
** 2022 April 4, Luci Kelemen, “Wesley So wins third leg of FIDE Grand Prix 2022 over Nakamura”, in Dot Esports‎, archived from the original on 2022-12-30:The first classical game featured a fairly mainline Nimzo-Indian Defense, with the players following one of So's October 2021 games until move 20.

#### Translations
### Verb

mainline (third-person singular simple present mainlines, present participle mainlining, simple past and past participle mainlined)
* (slang) To inject (a drug) directly into a vein.
    Synonym: main
** 1968, Richard Brotman, Alfred M. Freedman, A Community Mental Health Approach to Drug Addiction, page 97:The patient skinpopped for 1½ years and then started to mainline heroin.
* (by extension, informal, transitive) To consume voraciously.
** 2022 September 21, Jason Horowitz, “Hobbits and the Hard Right: How Fantasy Inspires Italy’s Potential New Leader”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:Last month, she lamented that her busy campaign schedule had kept her from mainlining Amazon’s new “Rings of Power” series.
* (computing, transitive) To integrate (code, etc.) into the main repository for a software project, rather than separate forks.
* (transitive) To include (a prisoner) in the general population of a prison.

#### Derived terms

* mainliner
* mainlining

### Noun

mainline (plural mainlines)
* (aviation) An airline's main operating unit, as opposed to codeshares or regional subsidiaries.
* (rail transport) The principal route or line of a railway.
    Coordinate term: trunk line
* (fishing) In longline fishing the central line to which the branch lines with baits are attached.
* (plumbing) The pipeline carrying wastewater to the public drains or a septic tank.
** 2007, Melvin Ladon White, Property Owner's Sewer and Drain Guide, page 31:Many plumbers will tell you they don't go off property since that is the local water company's responsibility. Most local water companies would prefer that, if a line is snaked, it is snaked all the way to the mainline connection.
** 2013, Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, page 80:In addition, opportunities exist for the introduction of these organisms into a system by means of broken or corroded piping, repair of existing mainlines, installation of new mains, back siphonage, and cross-connections, any of which may result in contamination of the water supply.
* (slang) A principal vein into which a drug can be injected.
** 1968, “Sister Ray”, in Lou Reed (lyrics), White Light/White Heat, performed by The Velvet Underground:I'm searching for my mainline / I said I couldn't hit it sideways
* (computing) The main repository for a software project, from which different versions (forks) may be split off.
* (chess) Alternative form of main line
** 2005 November 13, Malcolm Pein, “The Sunday chess column”, in The Daily Telegraph‎, archived from the original on 2016-07-06:8. ...Qe7! is the mainline and Black unpins with Nc6-d8-e6 […]
* The general population of a prison.
    Synonym: genpop

#### Alternative forms

* main line

#### Translations
### Further reading

* mainline on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* main line (railway) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* “mainline n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
* “mainline v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present