▪ I. liner1
(ˈlaɪnə(r))
[f. line v.1]
1. One who lines or fits a lining to anything.
| 1611 Florio, Foderáro,..a liner. 1881 Census Instr. (1885) 74 Straw Hat and Bonnet Making:..Liner. Ibid. 78 Furrier, Working... Liner. 1887 Pall Mall G. 7 Sept. 7/2 William Glover, a bucket liner, was thrown forward and struck among the girders. Mod. Advt., Mantle finishers and liners wanted. |
2. Mech. Something which serves as a lining. a. An inside cylinder, or a vessel placed inside another. b. A thin slip of metal, etc. placed between two parts to adjust them; a shim. c. A slab on which pieces of marble, etc. are fastened for grinding or polishing (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875).
| a. 1886 Pall Mall G. 1 Sept. 2/1 The gun has a thin liner put in from the breech, extending over the powder-chamber..it is advisable to have thin liners, which can be easily taken out. 1887 D. A. Low Machine Draw. (1892) 58 A is the cast-iron casing or barrel of the pump; B is a brass liner fitting tightly into the former at its ends. 1894 Times 28 Feb. 6/6 The trial had to be abandoned owing to the heating of the eccentric strap of the port low-pressure engine and the destruction of the brass liner. |
| b. 1869 E. J. Reed Shipbuild. x. 181 On account of the edge-strips being worked inside the plates, liners had to be fitted at each frame. 1874 Thearle Naval Archit. 114 Wide liners are fitted between the bulkhead frames and bottom plating. 1881 Greener Gun 237 The barrels are bored up within three inches of the muzzle with a fine-boring bit, using a spill and liners. |
3. The lining of a garment, esp. one made of an artificial fibre. So liner suit (see quot. 1969).
| 1947 Horizon Sept. 203 They took off their helmet liners. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics xiii. 517 The inner liner of the suit is of neoprene-coated fabric... The outer liner is an aluminized coverall. 1969 Guardian 7 Jan. 7/2 There is an undergarment called a liner suit which makes PVCs more comfortable to wear. It is a two-piece affair made from knitted nylon with the inside of cosy brushed cotton. 1970 Washington Post 30 Sept. B5/3 (Advt.), Zip-in-or-out orlon liner. 1971 C. Bonington Annapurna South Face 241, 4-oz. Dunloprufe nylon with open-cell foam liner. Ibid. 242, 1 pair overmits [made of] proofed nylon with Borg fur liner. |
4. In full, liner note. (See quot. 1953.) orig. U.S.
| 1953 Britannica Bk. of Year 638/1 Liner, the text accompanying an album of gramophone records. 1955 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) Jan. 41 The covers of these new jazz albums..are being covered..with thousands and thousands of words known as ‘liner notes’. 1960 D. Cerulli et al. Jazz Word (1962) 106 They couldn't come up with any less information than on some liners today. 1968 Jazz Monthly Feb. 21/2 The enthusiastic sleeve note by Brian Rust suggests that he may be on the downward path towards acceptance of those degenerate swing bands whom he has damned in nearly all his liner writing! 1969 Rolling Stone 17 May 17/3 As Coleman observes in the liner notes, ‘Ornette Denardo is hard to keep up with if you don't tell him what to do.’ |
Add: [2.] d. Packaging. (a) Any paper or board intended as the outer surface of a composite board, esp. corrugated cardboard. See also linerboard n. orig. U.S.
| 1921 Paper 5 Jan. 12/3 You are experiencing trouble trying to water-proof container liner with a furnish of kraft pulp. 1940 J. Leeming Mod. Export Packing 87 The different strengths of the liners or facing sheets used in corrugated fiberboard. 1951 W. H. De Montmorency in J. N. Stephenson Pulp & Paper Manuf. II. 103 Two liners are separated by the corrugated medium and held to it by an adhesive applied at the points of contact. 1960 Friedman & Kipnees Indust. Packaging ii. 71 Facings or liners as they are more commonly called, are relatively heavy, coarse paperboard usually of kraft or jute material. 1983 F. A. & H. Y. Paine Handbk. Food Packaging v. 147 Different grades and types of board can be produced by varying the materials, the thickness and weight of the liners and the fluting medium. 1990 S. Sonsino Packaging Design iii. 107/1 The multi-ply boards known as duplex boards are made from wood pulp surfaced with a bleached kraft liner. |
(b) An inner container, of impermeable material, separating a container from its contents.
| 1921 C. C. Martin Export Packing xx. 552 The shoes..are packed in a waterproof liner made of two layers of heavy paper with a thin coating of waterproof substance between the layers. 1948 Packaging & Display Encycl. 119 All screw closures require liners to form a leak-resistant seal between the..closure and the..glass. 1950 Ibid. (ed. 2) 382/1 (caption) A case returned by the War Office..after nine months on the Normandy Beaches. The contents were found to be in perfect condition due to the use of the war-type double impermeable case liner. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XIII. 856/1 More than half the polythene is used in film form and much is converted into shrink film, liners, sacks, and bags. 1981 in W. Stern Handbk. Package Design Res. xxxi. 337/2 A system design that would automatically form a lightweight thermoformable plastic barrier liner inside a folding carton. |
e. Any removable lining, esp. one designed to protect a container from its contents or to allow their easy removal. Usu. with function explained or implied by the context: cf. bin liner s.v. bin n. 8, nappy liner s.v. *nappy n.3 b.
| 1959 Sears, Roebuck Catal. Spring/Summer 409/3 Diaper liners... Disposable paper liner... Protects diapers and reduces laundry problems. 1966 Amer. City June 100/2 Each resident received three plastic liners and wire twists. Ibid., The instructions told them how to place the liners in their cans, how to gather them at the top when full..and how to remove secured liners..and carry them to the street on collection day. 1974 P. De Vries Glory of Hummingbird (1975) iii. 36 A garbage bag, one of those polyethylene liners for refuse cans. 1977 P. Leach Baby & Child ii. 85/1 A liner is only effective if you put it next to the baby's skin. 1984 Gainesville (Florida Sun 27 Mar. 7a/4 (Advt.), Kotex Lightday pantyliners. 1988 Washington Post 21 Feb. 10/2 A manufacturer will insert the liners with the patented wetness indicators into a production run of otherwise normal disposable diapers. 1990 M. Dibdin Vendetta (1991) 209 There was the washbasin, the rack for glasses below the mirror and the dud bulb above, the metal rubbish bin with its plastic liner, the barred window lying open into the room. |
▪ II. liner2
(ˈlaɪnə(r))
Also 5 lynnor, 5, 7 lyner, 6 lynar.
[f. line n.2 or line v.2]
I. Of persons.
1. Sc. An official whose duty is the tracing of the boundaries of properties in burghs.
| 14.. Burgh Laws cv. (Sc. Stat. I), Þe saidis lyneris sall suer þat þai sall leilly lyne in lenth as braidnes baith foir part and back part of þe land according to þe richt and auld merchis withyn þe burgh. 1461 Extracts Burgh Recs. Peebles (1872) 139 Thir ar the lynnoris to serf the burgh of Pebillis: + Wylyem Bulle, Rychart Cant [etc.]. 1541 Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 453 It was fundyn and determynit be the lynaris anence the debatis betuex Iohne Henrisone Culane..and Iohn Nachty, twcheing thair landis liand in the Gastraw [etc.]. 1894 K. Hewat Little Sc. World i. 20 The Liner has still important duties to perform in tracing the boundaries of properties. |
2. One whose business it is to paint lines on the wheels, etc. of carriages. Also liner-out.
| 1819 P.O. Lond. Direct. 299 Salmon, Thos., Springer and Liner, King-street, Clerkenwell. 1884 B'ham Daily Post 28 July 3/3 Carriage-painters.—Wanted, two good Liners⁓out and Varnishers. |
3. A writer of miscellaneous items for the newspapers, which are paid for at so much per line. (Cf. penny-a-liner.)
| 1861 D. Cook Paul Foster's Dau. xix. II. 87 Because now and then a liner is found in the gutter, it doesn't do to cry shame on every man that wields a pen. 1865 Reader 20 May 567/1 The account in the New York World of the pursuit and capture of Booth is by a prince amongst liners. |
4. One who ‘lines’ a tree. (Cf. quot. 1890 s.v. line v.2 2.)
| 1880 Lumberman's Gaz. Jan. 28 The scorers and liner fell the trees and roughly trim the two opposite sides. |
5. = linesman 1.
| 1870 Daily News 27 Sept., Such troops are less likely to commit excesses in a conquered town than regular liners. |
II. Of things.
† 6. (See quot.) Obs.
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xii. ¶7 The Liner is..a thin Plate of Iron or Brass..that being applied to the Face of a Punch, or other piece of Work, it may shew whether it be straight or no. Ibid. xvi, He examins by applying the Lyner..and holding it so up between his Eye and the Light, tries whether or not the Lyner ride upon the part that was extuberant. |
7. a. (See quot.)
| 1886 Mrs. Sharp-Ayres Mirror Painting Introd. 4 Take a very fine brush, called a liner, dip it in the colour, and go over the traced outline of the water lily. |
b. A cosmetic used for tinting a part of the face; a brush or pencil for applying this; spec. = eye-liner, eyeliner.
| 1926 M. Smith Bk. Play Production xi. 182 Liners are smaller sticks of grease paints..used to make lines on the face, such as wrinkles, ‘eyebrows’, etc. 1958 Osborne & Creighton Epitaph G. Dillon ii. 44, I always touch mine up with a brown liner... The rings under my eyes. 1966 Harper's Bazaar Sept. 70/1 Wrapping up lid, indeed eye, in a cocoon of pale grey shadow and liner. 1972 Daily Tel. 24 Jan. 11/1 A narrower streak of colour on the lid by the lashes, in place of liner. |
8. a. A vessel (now usually a steam-ship) belonging to a ‘line’ of packets (see line n.2 22).
| 1838 Haliburton Clockm. Ser. ii. v, All they got to do is, to up Hudson like a shot..and home in a liner, and write a book. 1848 Kingsley Yeast v. (1851) 96 The rail⁓road, Cunard's liners and the electric telegraph. 1885 Manch. Exam. 21 May 4/7 If the bar was silted up 3 ft. it absolutely prohibited large Atlantic liners from entering Liverpool. 1897 R. Kipling Capt. Cour. 1 The big liner rolled and lifted, whistling to warn the fishing fleet. |
b. A line-of-battle ship.
| 1829 W. N. Glascock Sailors & Saints I. ii. 25 We liners, you know, are not in the habit of leading small craft to their anchorage. 1855 Chambers's Jrnl. II. 270/2 Not an hour was lost in expediting the fitting out of our liner, for war was raging. 1858 in Simmonds Dict. Trade. 1859 G. A. Lawrence Sword & Gown xvii. 228 A huge ‘liner’, with English colours at the main...close on the enemy's quarter. 1861 Sat. Rev. 14 Dec. 602 There was..a fleet in commission of three liners and three or four frigates. 1863 Woolner My Beautiful Lady 147 The huge liners of the hostile fleet. 1864 Times 17 Oct., Wooden liners had become universally acknowledged as useless to compete with ironclad frigates. |
c. One of the aircraft of a regular line, esp. one for passenger transport; an air-liner; a space-ship.
| 1905 Kipling Actions & Reactions (1909) 125 A Planet liner, east bound, heaves up in a superb spiral and takes the air of us humming. 1919 H. Golding Wonder Bk. Aircraft 69 (caption) Off! The pilot of the ‘liner’ is just giving orders to remove the blocks from the wheels of the under-carriage. 1933 Boys' Mag. XLVII. 24/1 Mile after mile of seemingly endless country unfurled itself beneath the flying wings of the giant liner. 1951 A. C. Clarke Sands of Mars iii. 24 The observation gallery..completely circled the liner. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Apr. 230/3 These well-known liners were conceived with the future needs of the air lines in view. 1969 New Scientist 2 Oct. 20/2 The Boeing liner will have rather more than twice the capacity of the Concorde. |
d. One of a fleet of lorries.
| 1955 Times 29 June 13/3 The commission have offered the trunk service vehicles, which provide regular daily services between certain towns..‘liner’ services, compared with ‘tramps’,..in relatively large lots together with their respective terminal depôts. |
9. A boat engaged in sea-fishing with lines.
| 1901 Scotsman 4 Mar. 6/2 The want of herring bait is handicapping the steam liners who are working the cod and ling fishing. |
10. Sports. (? U.S.) a. Baseball. A ball which, when struck, flies through the air in a nearly straight line not far from the ground.
| 1874 [see line-ball s.v. line n.2 32]. |
b. A ball, marble, or other object that rests on a traced line (Cent. Dict.).
11. colloq. A picture hung ‘on the line’ at an exhibition (see line n.2 11 c).
| 1887 W. P. Frith Autobiog. I. x. 114 The work..in due time made its appearance in Trafalgar Square, where it was amongst the fortunate ‘liners’. |
12. ‘A threshed sheaf of corn’ (W. Cornwall Gloss. 1880).
| 1602 Carew Cornwall 110 b, As the threshing lout, Rusheth his Lyners out, So Lyner on his course rusheth. |
13. attrib., as liner train, a fast through-running freight train made up of detachable containers on permanently coupled wagons.
| 1962 Guardian 30 Oct. 3/2 ‘Custom built’ services..so that customers can..‘buy space’ on fixed formation trains—‘liner trains’—whose wagons can..bear their name and line of business. 1963 Reshaping of Brit. Railways (Brit. Railways Board) 142 The description ‘Liner Train’ is applied to a conception of transport based upon joint use of road and rail for door-to-door transport of containerised merchandise, with special purpose, through-running, scheduled trains providing the trunk haul... The Liner Train..is a train of chassis which will remain continuously coupled... The speed will be a maximum of 75 and an average of 50 miles an hour. 1964 Observer 28 June 8/5 If Dr. Beeching's figures are accepted at their face value, the cost of carrying goods by liner trains will be so much less than by heavy lorries..that he should be able to undercut the roads by a comfortable margin. 1970 Daily Mail 16 Feb. 1/6 The plant sends rear axles and brake drums by liner trains to other Ford factories. |
Sense 13 in Dict. becomes 14. Add: [II.] [9.] b. A ferret attached to a line, used in rabbiting.
| 1902 A. Niblett in W. Carnegie et al. Ferrets & Ferreting (ed. 3) vi. 46 One of your ferrets should always be a good liner, and a good line ferret possesses qualifications which are actually detrimental in the others. 1946 W. Thomas Rabbit Shooting to Ferrets iii. 19 Let us assume that you have purchased a strong, steady hob as liner and a couple of carefully selected jills in whelp. 1966 Punch 13 July 82/2 This ‘liner’ disappeared into the same hole, spaced knots on the string recording his descent. 1979 Shooting Times & Country Mag. 10–16 May 19/3 A good liner will home in on a rabbit and either bolt it or kill it. |
13. Orig., an advertisement occupying a line of print; hence more generally, with preceding numeral: something occupying a specified number of lines (of print, etc.). See also one-liner (a) s.v. one B. 35.
| 1901 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 24 Oct. 5/2 A valuable fur collar, which was advertised in yesterday's Colonist, was restored to its owner before noon, thus showing the prompt returns received from the use of Colonist ‘liners’. 1904 ‘Mark Twain’ in Harper's Weekly 2 Jan. 18/1 There were headings—one-liners and two-liners. 1974 P. De Vries Glory of Hummingbird (1975) v. 65 Those two-liners in down-home newspapers. 1983 Austral. Personal Computer Oct. 114/1 This short two liner lists a cassette file to the screen on an Atari. |