monoline
(ˈmɒnəlaɪn)
[f. mono- + line n.]
1. (With capital initial.) The inventor's name for one of the printing machines which cast a line at a time. Cf. Linotype.
| 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 522/2 The former class [of type-setting and type-casting machines] is exemplified by the Linotype, the Typograph, and the Monoline machines. |
2. = mono-rail.
| 1902 Westm. Gaz. 1 Feb. 10/2 A project for constructing a railway between Edinburgh and Glasgow on the monoline principle. |
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▸ Business (orig. U.S.). A monoline company, esp. an insurance company (see sense B. 2); (also) a policy issued by such an insurance company.
| 1984 Best's Rev. Jan. 72/2 The fully automated data processing system will be implemented on a line-by-line basis, with high-volume monolines scheduled first. We expect to see homeowners policies automated sometime in 1984. 1994 EuroMoney Apr. 68/1 The monolines are labouring under a number of heavy yokes. 2008 Daily Tel. 31 Jan. (Business section) b3/3 Major monolines..risk losing their Triple-A credit ratings as a result of having to pay out on guarantees connected to bonds that contain defaulting sub-prime mortgages. |
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▸ Business (orig. U.S.). Designating a company, esp. an insurance company, that operates in only one field; of or relating to such a company. Cf. multiline adj.
| 1958 Jrnl. Insurance 25 64/2 The final impact of multiple line underwriting might well be the rise of large multiple line companies and the gradual demise of small mono-line ones. 1968 Med. Care 6 56 Some health insurers who are monoline in operation..have had somewhat better experience. 1997 P. M. Lencsis Insurance Regulation in U.S. 27 These ‘monoline’ companies tended to become affiliated with companies selling other lines. 2000 Economist 8 July 115/1 The credit-card business was the first to come under attack, with so-called monoline (ie, single-product) providers..undercutting the banks' juicy margins. |