tram line

Noun

tramline (plural tramlines)

1. The rails that a tram runs on.
   • Transport, motorways and tramlines / Starting and then stopping1997, “Let Down”, in OK Computer, performed by Radiohead
2. (UK) Either of the two pairs of sidelines marked on a tennis court which mark the outside of the singles and doubles playing areas.
3. A scratch on a film, usually vertical, that extends through multiple frames.
   • The tramline is therefore much less obvious on the screen. Also, if the scratch is on the base (i.e., on the back of the film), then it will not be in sharp focus.1984, Movie Maker, volume 18, number 2, page 47
4. A mark or bruise having the shape of two parallel lines.
   • a tramline scar

   Synonyms:

   tram track

5. (Oxford English Dictionary jargon) A pair of vertical bars (||) placed to the left of the headword in certain editions of the OED to indicate that the term is "alien or not fully naturalized" (such as a recent borrowing).
   • Those words that [James] Murray classified as denizens and aliens, as well as those casuals approaching these two prior categories, were marked by two parallel lines beside the headword (||), a symbol known by the in-house term tramline. Murray himself admitted to the inherent subjectivity of his...2014 May 23, Danica Salazar, “Towards improved coverage of Southeast Asian Englishes in the Oxford English Dictionary”, in Lexicography, Berlin: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC

See all 6 meanings of tramline