Word.ws English Dictionary

blueline

blueline noun: a reproduction of the material submitted for printing, computer-generated or printed from film, provided to the customer for approval before the material is printed.

Noun

blueline (plural bluelines)

  1. A reproduction of the material submitted for printing, computer-generated or printed from film, provided to the customer for approval before the material is printed.

Verb

blueline (third-person singular simple present bluelines, present participle bluelining, simple past and past participle bluelined)

  1. To create the bluelines for material that is about to be printed.
    • It was decided to make the color separation in the plotting, in order to eliminate bluelining and redrafting.1934, Photogrammetric Engineering - Volumes 1-3, page 14
    • The data on these documents are qualified, reduced to chart scale and mosaicked together on the chart base. Next the mosaic is bluelined onto scribe coat and a manual selection of the data is made.1986, Proceedings, 1st Biennial Canadian Hydrographic Conference 16, 17, & 18 April 1985
  2. To check the bluelines before printing material.
    • Although claiming editorship, my involvement amounted to occasional 'bluelining', a deal of 'cutting-to-fit' and the general work required in designing and laying-out a book.1990, Mary Ellen Freeman, Ted Smith, Poets And Pals Of Picardy, page xi
  3. To veto a portion of a budget.
    • In 1961 the Governor bluelined the funds.1962, California. Legislature. Assembly. Interim Committee on Water, Subcommittee Reports and Reports on Referred Bills
    • lf our attitude is that, our program is going to be eliminated by someone who bluelines a budget.1978, Pennsylvania Conference on Post-secondary Occupational Education, The ... Annual Pennsylvania Conference on Post-secondary Occupational Eduction, Volume 9
  4. To edit a legal document.
    • It seems sensible under a range of circumstances to have that power to be able to blueline them— or redline them, as the case may be— so that they are removed from the register.2007, Australia. Parliament. Senate, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).: Senate, page 21
    • California law allows a court to "blueline" an arbitration agreement to remove an element that renders it substantively unconscionable.2008, Benjamin Tyson Duranske, Virtual Law: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds
  5. To mark on a patient's body where the surgical incision is to be made.
    • Bone removal was continued in order to "blueline" the vestibule and then extended superiorly over the vestibule until Bill's bar was exposed.1988, Transactions of the American Otological Society - Volume 76, page 95
    • After bluelining, the bony endostium is opened with a 90°-degree microhook; care must be taken to avoid suction of the perilymph; the membranous canal comes into view1998, Michel Portmann, Didier Portmann, Otologic Surgery: Manual of Oto-surgical Techniques, page 208
  6. (Canada, US) To designate a certain area as representing one in which investment is risky.
    • Not unlike the negative results of the bluelining and steering practices of many banks and real estate firms, such efforts leave bitterness in their wake and serve to bolster the worst fears and prejudices of both races.1979, Wade Clark Roof, Race and residence in American cities, page 130

Examples of blueline in a sentence

  • I sat down with the Governor we bluelined the budget down to a billion three and sent it back.1986, Earl W. Brian, Governor Reagan's cabinet and agency administration: interviews:
  • The lateral canal is first bluelined, then opened with a cutting burr.2001, Newton J. Coker, Herman A. Jenkins, Atlas of Otologic Surgery, page 456:

Forms of blueline

Noun
pluralbluelines
Verb
third-person singular presentbluelines
present participlebluelining
past participlebluelined
pastbluelined

Origin of blueline

From blue + line.

Questions about blueline

What does blueline mean?
Blueline means a reproduction of the material submitted for printing, computer-generated or printed from film, provided to the customer for approval before the material is printed.
How do you use blueline in a sentence?
I sat down with the Governor we bluelined the budget down to a billion three and sent it back.
What part of speech is blueline?
Blueline can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of blueline?
The plural of blueline is bluelines.

Words near blueline in the dictionary

  1. bluejets
  2. bluejohn
  3. bluejoint reed grass
  4. bluejoint reed grasses
  5. blueless
  6. blueline
  7. bluelined
  8. blueliner
  9. blueliners
  10. bluelines
  11. bluelining

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: blueline (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-blueline.wav.

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