What does "longline" mean?

Gear consisting of a long and thick mainline, with baited hooks attached at intervals by means of branch lines called snoods or gangions.

Longline

adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Gear consisting of a long and thick mainline, with baited hooks attached at intervals by means of branch lines called snoods or gangions.
2
A slackline which runs a considerable distance
3
A long cable used to raise or lower loads from a helicopter when landing is not possible.

Verb

1
To fish with a line of this kind.
"The Japanese, always on the prowl for something else to take out of the sea, have been longlining sharks for years, and eating them in a variety of ways."

Adjective

1
longer than usual; especially reaching to the hips not-comparable
"Strapless longline bra, with wired underbust and flexible boning, smooths womanly curves."

"Strapless longline bra, with wired underbust and flexible boning, smooths womanly curves."

Etymology 1

From long + line.

Etymology 2

Blend of long + slackline.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.