wireline adj. of communication or technology, connected by cable or wire; the opposite of wireless. Etymological Note: From the noun “wireline,” defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a telegraph or telephone line of wire” and dating to 1934, but reinforced by more recent repeated back-formation from “wireless.” (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mark in Bismarck, North Dakota, spent years as a sailor, and wonders about the term sea painter, meaning “a rope attached to a lifeboat.” Why painter? The word may derive from Middle French pendeur meaning “a kind of rope that...
Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words are useful for far more, like applying for a job or...