trunk line

noun

|Updated on: 20 Jun 2018

Definition of trunk line

1 : a transportation system (such as an airline, railroad, or highway) handling long-distance through traffic

2 a : a main supply channel (as for gas or oil)

b : trunk 5b

Recent Examples of trunk line from the Web

Water filtered through that grid into two larger sideline drains that fed a main trunk line north of the field.

— sara cardine, latimes.com, "LCHS football field gets drainage upgrade after rains gang up on gridiron," 13 June 2018
In February 2017, a sewage trunk line south of the border ruptured.

— carl prine, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Congresswoman wants Navy to help fight Mexican sewage spills," 23 Apr. 2018
The complex, coast-to-coast trunk lines of Ma Bell might take a year or more to reconnect.

— nan randall, The Atlantic, "'Charlottesville': A Government-Commissioned Story About Nuclear War," 25 Jan. 2018
Speaking in cadence while sitting atop trunks lined up as railcars, Bess and Beth reenact their excited train trip to meet the City of Benares.

— OregonLive.com, "'Lifeboat' tells teens' terrifying World War II survivors' tale," 15 Jan. 2018
Alaska’s 1,400-mile portion of the international project includes a land trunk line between Fairbanks and the Prudhoe Bay oil fields that went live in the spring.

— rachel d'oro, The Seattle Times, "Taken for granted elsewhere, high-speed internet to bring big change to remote Alaska," 25 Dec. 2017
By pure coincidence, that happened to be the tone AT&T used to reset its trunk lines.

— cyrus farivar, Ars Technica, "Iconic hacker booted from conferences after sexual misconduct claims surface," 18 Nov. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'trunk line.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of trunk line

1843

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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