payline

English

Etymology

From pay +‎ line.

Noun

payline (plural paylines)

1. (gambling) A line of symbols on a slot machine (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) that can win a jackpot.
   • 1994, Victor H. Royer, Casino Magazine's Play Smart and Win, →ISBN:

     This means that to win anything, you must line up a winning combination on that center payline and on that line only.

   • 2012, Avery Cardoza, Winning Casino Play, →ISBN, page 11:

     Much like bingo, the multiple payline machines give slots players various directions that can turn them into a winner. The single payline machine has one line across the machine, which shows where the reels must line up for a winning combination to be paid. The multiple payline machine, on the other hand, has three or five lines, depending upon the machine, which give players more winning positions on the reels.

   • 2014, Victor H. Royer, Powerful Profits From Slots, →ISBN, page 42:

     The disadvantages in multi-payline machines are that the smaller payoffs are usually very small, much smaller than on one-payline machines, and also that the top jackpot is usually paid only if you line up the proper winning symbols in the correct sequence on the bottom, or third, payline. Or the fifth payline in case of the five-line machines, or the eighth payline in case of the eight-line machines, and so on — basically, if you don't play all the paylines you cannot win the jackpotl

2. A criterion score used by an organization that gives grants to determine which applications are good enough to be given money.
   • 2005, Reif-Lehrer, Grant Application Writer's Handbook, →ISBN, page 249:

     When an Institute indicates a particular percentile payline, it means that Applications with an equal or better (lower) percentile will generally be funded.

   • 2013, Robert J. Sternberg, Writing Successful Grant Proposals from the Top Down and Bottom Up, →ISBN:

     NIH institutes vary in the amount of discretion exercised around the payline.

   • 2016, Stuart Firestein, Failure: Why Science is So Successful, page 189:

     I should be quite happy. And I am certainly happier than those whose scores fell below the payline and who will not get funding. But I wrote several proposals to get that one funded, turning the process into a kind of lottery -- the more you play, the butter your chances (which is actually not true; it's just the only option).

3. The minimum salary associated with a pay grade.
   • 1969, United States Department of Defense, Modernizing military pay, page 89:

     A modification, using larger intergrade differentials between the lower grades and with differentials gradually decreasing in size as the payline moved upward through higher grades, solved both problems-⁠-providing more nearly competitive rates at GS-5 and GS-7 and a GS-18 rate which was much lower and more reasonable in the Federal context.

   • 1973, Federal Pay Comparability Adjustments--1973:

     This table also compares these payline rates with current General Schedule payline rates (as established by Executive Order 11637, December 22, 1971), and shows the increases needed at each grade to attain comparability.

   • 1975, Congressional Serial Set - Volume 13072, page 19:

     As shown by the Table above, the average of the private enterprise PATC payline intergrade differential is 18.6%. The application of that average 18.6% as a constant differential would provide, of course, a payline literally conforming to the requirement that “pay distinctions be maintained in keeping with work and performance distinctions” within the classified service schedule.

4. (civil engineering) The planned limit of an excavation, beyond which a contractor is not paid for any excavation work.
   • 1971, The Military Engineer: Journal of the Society of American Military:

     The specifications provided for a circular payline 24 feet in diameter — 6 inches beyond the minimum clearance diameter of 23 feet.

   • 1981, Geological Survey Professional Paper - Volume 831, Part 3, page C-11:

     A contractor is paid for excavating a certain amount of rock when constructing a tunnel; the line drawn in a cross section of the tunnel that defines this limit of excavation is called the payline (fig. 12). Any material excavated outside the payline is defined as overbreak, and a contractor is not paid for excavating that material.

   • 2004, Fred G. Bell, Engineering Geology and Construction, →ISBN, page 187:

     Nonetheless, breakage rarely, if ever, continues beyond a vertical distance equal to half the width of the tunnel above the top of a semi-circular payline (Fig. 3.4c).

5. (bookkeeping) A line in a paysheet, corresponding to a single paycheck.
   • 1999, Adam T. Bromwich, Peoplesoft HRMS Reporting, →ISBN:

     The payline number (LINE#) represents a single employee on a paysheet. Paylines are created during the paysheet creation process. One line is set up per employee, unless more are required.

   • 2003, Jonathan F. Hutchings, Project Scheduling Handbook, →ISBN, page 114:

     This is true of lump-sum projects, but the situation is reversed in unit-price contract projects, because a cost-loaded network does not synchronize with the payline items on unit-price contracts.

   • 2006, IT Governance Institute, Security, Audit and Control Features PeopleSoft, →ISBN:

     Paysheets are composed of paylines, and each payline represents a paycheck.