A dark ink is continuously injected into a flow field by means of a needle probe extending into the middle of the field. A photograph, taken at any instant in time, shows a line starting at the needle tip and extending downstream in the flow field. This line is called a streakline.
As a very light feather is carried about by air, time-lapse video captures the changing location of the feather. An imaginary line connecting each subsequent location of the feather is called a pathline.
The terms "curl" and "angular velocity" have the same meaning.