• IPA: /ˈbiːlaɪn/

beeline (plural beelines)

1. A very direct or quick path or trip.

   to make / strike a beeline for / to something

   The children made a beeline to the swimming pool.

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare & Co.; Sylvia Beach, OCLC 560090630 ↗; republished London: Published for the Egoist Press, London by John Rodker, Paris, October 1922, OCLC 2297483 ↗:

     , Episode 16

     Discussing these and kindred topics they made a beeline across the back of the Customhouse and passed under the Loop Line bridge where a brazier of coke burning in front of a sentrybox or something like one attracted their rather lagging footsteps.

2. (mining, chiefly, historical) A dynamite fuse made with a small quantity of dynamite powder along its length, so that the spark travels quickly and at a specific known rate.

• French: à vol d'oiseau
• German: Luftlinie
• Russian: прямиком
• Spanish: a vuelo de pájaro

beeline (beelines, present participle beelining; past and past participle beelined)

1. To travel in a straight course, ignoring established paths of travel.