tramline

plural tramlines · alternative tram line

1. rail transportThe rails that a tram runs on.

   Transport, motorways and tramlines / Starting and then stopping

   1997, “Let Down”, in OK Computer, performed by Radiohead

2. UKhobbiesEither of the two pairs of sidelines marked on a tennis court which mark the outside of the singles and doubles playing areas.
3. broadcastingA scratch on a film, usually vertical, that extends through multiple frames.

   The tramline is therefore much less obvious on the screen. Also, if the scratch is on the base (i.e., on the back of the film), then it will not be in sharp focus.

   1984, Movie Maker, volume 18, number 2, page 47

4. medicineA mark or bruise having the shape of two parallel lines.

   a tramline scar

   1 more example

   The well-reported "tramlines" or parallel punctate scars on either side of the vein were seen in only four patients.

   1970 June 13, Dorothy I. Vollum, “Skin Lesions in Drug Addicts”, in British Medical Journal, volume 2, number 5710, London: British Medical Association, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 647

   Synonyms: tram track

5. Oxford English Dictionary jargonhuman sciencesA pair of vertical bars (||) placed to the left of the headword in certain editions of the OED to indicate that the term is "alien or not fully naturalized" (such as a recent borrowing).

   1 more example

   Those words that [James] Murray classified as denizens and aliens, as well as those casuals approaching these two prior categories, were marked by two parallel lines beside the headword (||), a symbol known by the in-house term tramline. Murray himself admitted to the inherent subjectivity of his method of classification, which unsurprisingly led to a number of inconsistencies in the use of tramlines, and may even have contributed to the patchiness of the OED's regional coverage that Weiner acknowledged many years later.

   2014 May 23, Danica Salazar, “Towards improved coverage of Southeast Asian Englishes in the Oxford English Dictionary”, in Lexicography, Berlin: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC

present singular third person tramlines · participle present tramlining · participle past tramlined · past tramlined · alternative tram line

1. intransitiveroadOf a vehicle: to tend to follow the contours of the ground with its wheels.

   Synonyms: nibble