Business Glossary

connected to a computer or available through a computer. For example, online help is information that can be called up immediately on a computer screen rather than having to be looked up in a book.

Usage note: Online is also written with a hyphen when used before a noun, as in on-line processing, or as two separate words when used predicatively, as in The computer is on line.

In New York City but not elsewhere, on line means "in a queue," as in We are standing on line - the rest of the country says standing in line. In this context it is not a computer term and is not written as a single word.

system of linked smaller computer networks, international in scope, that facilitates data communication such as file transfer, electronic mail, and newsgroups between different entities.