Liner

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈlaɪnɚ/

Definitions

1. A ship built to operate on a fixed schedule and route for carrying passengers ; a material or layer placed inside an object to protect or cover its interior surface
2. A vessel intended to transport people regularly along predetermined routes ; a protective or decorative inner covering fitted inside containers or structures
3. A regularly scheduled passenger ship used for transportation across seas or large bodies of water ; an inner surface layer serving to shield or encase the inside of an item

Etymology: The word "liner" is an agent-style formation built on "line," and its most useful story is how a simple idea of a line of ships became a name for a single vessel. The sense "passenger ship" grew out of the older notion of a ship belonging to a regular line, a fixed service running between set ports on a published schedule, as distinct from a tramp steamer that sailed wherever cargo was waiting. The ship was named for the service it sailed, not for anything about its shape or size. The ending "-er" was added to the noun "line" in English, a common pattern for turning a thing into one that does or belongs to something. Some dictionaries treat the "-er" as the relational suffix that marks a thing connected with another, and others read it as the measurement sense, as in a ship that carries a set number of passengers. Either way, the formation is English, built from a familiar root rather than borrowed from another language.

Synonyms: sheet, layer, cover, coating, film

Antonyms: core, interior, filling, substance, essence