lifeline

[ lahyf-lahyn ]

noun

1. a line, fired across a ship or boat, by means of which a hawser for a breeches buoy may be hauled aboard.
2. a line or rope for saving life, as one attached to a lifeboat.
3. any of various lines line running above the decks, spars, etc., of a ship or boat to give sailors something to grasp when there is danger of falling or being washed away.
4. a wire safety rope supported by stanchions along the edge of the deck of a yacht.
5. the line by which a diver is lowered and raised.
6. any of several anchored lines line used by swimmers for support.
7. a route or means of transportation or communication for receiving or delivering food, medicine, or assistance:

   This road is the town's lifeline and must be kept open despite the snow.

8. assistance at a critical time.

lifeline

/ ˈlaɪfˌlaɪn /

noun

1. a line thrown or fired aboard a vessel for hauling in a hawser for a breeches buoy
2. any rope or line attached to a vessel or trailed from it for the safety of passengers, crew, swimmers, etc
3. a line by which a deep-sea diver is raised or lowered
4. a vital line of access or communication

Word History and Origins

Origin of lifeline¹

First recorded in 1690–1700; life + line ¹

Example Sentences

There are also few other ways to look at this deal, beyond Uber’s own decision to double down on its lifeline in the pandemic, food delivery.

From Fortune

The stimulus check he just received was a lifeline for food and rent.

From Washington Post

A federal economic relief package passed by Congress in March promised to provide a lifeline for hospitals, particularly those in rural communities where many facilities struggled to survive even before the coronavirus pandemic.

From ProPublica

Yet not all lower- and middle-income nations are waiting for a lifeline.

From Fortune

In the midst of a pandemic, when companies of all sizes have struggled, Amazon undoubtedly extended a lifeline to more than a few.

From Quartz

These images, videos and messages became a lifeline between two worlds and a stark record of the distance between them.

From The Daily Beast

They severed the last railroad lifeline into Atlanta, making the Citadel of the Confederacy as it was touted no longer tenable.

From The Daily Beast

The third and final “lifeline” asked whether von Trier related to his female protagonists as well as his male ones.

From The Daily Beast

The second “lifeline” was what von Trier had learned about female sexuality by making Nymphomaniac.

From The Daily Beast

To step inside Madison Square Garden was to grab hold of a lifeline to an alternate world of harmonic order and balance.

From The Daily Beast

Ten months of siege followed as Grant methodically cut the Confederate 39 lifeline.

From Project Gutenberg

Even so, he didn't unshackle his inward-reeling lifeline till he was inside the chamber.

From Project Gutenberg

Occasionally a lifeline was rigged along the well deck to the poop quarters, a by no means unnecessary precaution.

From Project Gutenberg

A cheer burst from the throats of the Boy Scouts as they tailed on the lifeline, and walked backward from the tree with it.

From Project Gutenberg

Even these hardy men of the wild dared not venture beyond their door without the lifeline which was always kept handy.

From Project Gutenberg