Adjacent Words

streamline definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: contour economically or efficiently

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Date: 1868 1. the path of a particle in a fluid relative to a solid body past which the fluid is moving in smooth flow without turbulence 2. a. a contour designed to minimize resistance to motion through a fluid (as air) b. a smooth or flowing line designed as if for decreasing air resistance II. transitive verb Date: 1913 1. to design or construct with a streamline 2. to bring up to date ; modernize 3. a. to put in order ; organize b. to make simpler or more efficient <a system that streamlines the process>

Britannica Concise

In fluid mechanics, the path of imaginary particles suspended in the fluid and carried along with it. In steady flow, the fluid is in motion but the streamlines are fixed. Where streamlines crowd together, the fluid speed is relatively high; where they open out, the fluid is relatively still. See also laminar flow, turbulent flow.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. 1 give (a vehicle etc.) the form which presents the least resistance to motion. 2 make (an organization, process, etc.) simple or more efficient or better organized. --n. 1 the natural course of water or air currents. 2 (often attrib.) the shape of an aircraft, car, etc., calculated to cause the least resistance to motion.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Streamline Stream"line`, a. Of or pert. to a stream line; designating a motion or flow that is free from turbulence, like that of a particle in a streamline; hence, designating a surface, body, etc., that is designed so as to afford an unbroken flow of a fluid about it, esp. when the resistance to flow is the least possible; as, a streamline body for an automobile or airship.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(streamlines, streamlining, streamlined) To streamline an organization or process means to make it more efficient by removing unnecessary parts of it. They're making efforts to streamline their normally cumbersome bureaucracy... VERB: V n

Moby Thesaurus

air line, axis, beeline, boil down, chord, diagonal, diameter, direct line, directrix, distill, edge, great-circle course, modernize, narrow, normal, oversimplify, perpendicular, purify, radius, radius vector, reduce, reduce to elements, refine, right line, secant, segment, shortcut, side, simplify, straight, straight course, straight line, straight stretch, straightaway, strip down, tangent, transversal, update, vector