lifeline

Noun

lifeline (plural lifelines)

1. A line to which a drowning or falling victim may cling.
2. (broadly) A source of salvation in a crisis.
   • The girls, of course, were my lifeline during this time.2012, Melissa Rycroft, My Reality, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN
   • Slowly I began to fill up some of the emptiness inside—writing had become my lifeline.2012, Aaron Dixon, My People Are Rising, Haymarket Books, →ISBN, page 64
3. A means or route for transporting indispensable supplies.
   • Planners did not see the access routes as west Berlin's sole lifeline, which now seems instinctive to us.2012, Daniel F. Harrington, Berlin on the Brink, University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, page 9
   • It is no real surprise that half the UK's stations and 5,000 miles of route were recommended to close. Nevertheless, some great mistakes were made in Marples' devil-may-care purge that left commuters stranded and seaside resorts without a lifeline.2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 50
4. A system or structure of vital importance to a community.
5. On the deck of a boat, a line to which one can attach oneself to stay aboard on rough seas.

   Synonyms:

   jackstay

6. A line from the diver to a tender at the surface control point.

   Synonyms:

   tether

7. (palmistry) A particular crease in the palm.

   Synonyms:

   line of life