line

Etymology 1

From Middle English line, lyne, from Old English līne (“line, cable, rope, hawser, series, row, rule, direction”), from Proto-West Germanic *līnā, from Proto-Germanic *līnǭ (“line, rope, flaxen cord, thread”), from Proto-Germanic *līną (“flax, linen”), from Proto-Indo-European *līno- (“flax”). cognates Cognate with Scots line (“line”), North Frisian liin (“line”), West Frisian line (“line”), Dutch lijn (“rope, cord”), German Leine (“line, rope”), Danish line (“rope, cord”), Swedish lina (“line, rope, wire”), Icelandic lína (“line”). Related also to Dutch lijn (“flax”), German Lein (“flax, linen”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌽 (lein, “linen, cloth”), Latin linea (“linen, thread, string, line”), Latin linum (“flax, thread, linen, cable”), Ancient Greek λίνον (línon, “flax, linen, thread, garment”), Old Church Slavonic линъ (linŭ, “flax”), Russian лён (ljon, “flax”), Lithuanian linai (“flax”), Irish līn, lion (“flax”). Influenced in Middle English by Middle French ligne (“line”), from Latin linea. More at linen. The oldest sense of the word is "rope, cord, thread"; from this the senses "path", "continuous mark" were derived.

noun

1. A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
   1. (geometry) An infinitely extending one-dimensional figure that has no curvature; one that has length but not breadth or thickness.
   2. (geometry, informal) A line segment; a continuous finite segment of such a figure.
   3. (graph theory) An edge of a graph.
   4. (geography) A circle of latitude or of longitude, as represented on a map.
   5. (geography, 'the line' or 'equinoctial line') The equator.
      Benin […] is situated nearly under the line, and extends along the coast about 170 miles […]. 1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 1, in The Interesting Narrative, volume I
      She [a ship called Town-Ho] was somewhere to the northward of the Line. 1851, Herman Melville, chapter 54, in Moby Dick
      And all this, too, in a country only twelve degrees south of the line; I wonder the men worked as well and as steadily as they did, for I never saw Europeans work in any tropical country as our Port Darwin labourers did. 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 111
      "Ho, aboard the Salt Junk Sarah, Rollin" home across the line, The Bo'sun collared the Captain's hat And threw it in the brine." 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 52
   6. (music) One of the straight horizontal and parallel prolonged strokes on and between which the notes are placed.
   7. (cricket) The horizontal path of a ball towards the batsman (see also length).
   8. (soccer) The goal line.
      St Johnstone's Liam Craig had to clear off the line before Steven Anderson sent a looping header into his own net for the equaliser on 36 minutes. October 1, 2011, Clive Lindsay, “Kilmarnock 1-2 St Johnstone”, in BBC Sport
   9. (motoring) A particular path taken by a vehicle when driving a bend or corner in the road.
      "I guess it's like race cars - if you get the right line you can come out at top speed." Feb 2021, The Road Ahead, Brisbane, page 10, column 3
2. A rope, cord, string, or thread, of any thickness.
   Then we hunted up a place close by to hide the canoe in, amongst the thick willows. We took some fish off of the lines and set them again, and begun to get ready for dinner. 1884, Mark Twain, chapter 9, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
   […]he found preparing the hook far less fun than dangling the line in the water and waiting for a fish to come along. Finally succeeding, he beamed a smile up at his father, then lowered his line into the swift-moving Sippora. 2007, Robert Newcomb, A March Into Darkness, page 29
   Use fabric or nursery grade webbing around stakes and trunk, loosely tying the line to the tree about 6 inches below the point where the tree bounces back in your hand when you grab the trunk. 2008, Joshua Plunkett, Jeanne K. Hanson, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Trees and Shrubs, page 164
3. A hose or pipe, of any size.
   a brake line
   the main water line to the house
   There is the possible hazard of an oil spill in case the line breaks but normal pipeline maintenance and safety measures, etc., are designed to prevent large or long continued spillage. 1973, Final Environmental Statement for the Geothermal Leasing Program, US department of the interior
   To the end of the metal fuel line (where it fits into the carb) you attach a four-foot length of flexible fuel line. 1981 October, Popular Science, volume 219, number 4, page 113
4. Direction, path.
   the line of sight
   the line of vision
5. The wire connecting one telegraphic station with another, a telephone or internet cable between two points: a telephone or network connection.
   I tried to make a call, but the line was dead.
   a dedicated line;  a shared line
   Please speak up, the line is very faint.
6. A clothesline.
   We need to take the clothes off the line. The news reported a front is coming in from the east, and we can expect heavy rain and maybe hail.
   She feels guilty for pampering him, and salves her conscience by bossily ordering him to go and fetch the clothes from the line[.] 1985, Joan Morrison, Share House Blues, Boolarong Publications, page 26
7. A letter, a written form of communication.
   Drop me a line.
8. A connected series of public conveyances, as a roadbed or railway track; and hence, an established arrangement for forwarding merchandise, etc.
   a line of stages
   an express line
9. (military) A trench or rampart, or the non-physical demarcation of the extent of the territory occupied by specified forces.
   This description of the old front line, as it was when the Battle of the Somme began, may some day be of use.[…]It is hoped that this description of the line will be followed by an account of our people's share in the battle. 1917, John Masefield, The Old Front Line
10. The exterior limit of a figure or territory: a boundary, contour, or outline; a demarcation.
    Eden stretch'd her Line / From Auran Eastward to the Royal Towrs / Of great Seleucia, 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, volume IV
11. A long tape or ribbon marked with units for measuring; a tape measure.
12. (obsolete) A measuring line or cord.
13. That which was measured by a line, such as a field or any piece of land set apart; hence, allotted place of abode.
14. A threadlike crease or wrinkle marking the face, hand, or body; hence, a characteristic mark.
    He tipples palmistry, and dines On all her fortune-telling lines. 1651, John Cleveland, “Fuscara”, in George Saintsbury, editor, Minor poets of the Caroline period, published 1921)
    Though on his brow were graven lines austere. 1812-1818, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
    I muttered somethin' underneath my breath / She studied the lines on my face / I must admit I felt a little uneasy / When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe / Tangled up in blue. 1975, “Tangled Up in Blue”, in Bob Dylan (music), Blood on the Tracks
15. Lineament; feature; figure (of one's body).
    I mean, the lines of my body are as well drawn as his. c. 1609, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Cymbeline
    By subtly altering classical ballet steps, she extended the line of the dancer's body and introduced a new kind of athleticism and verve to ballet. 2002, Mark C. Carnes, Invisible Giants, page 220
16. A more-or-less straight sequence of people, objects, etc., either arranged as a queue or column and often waiting to be processed or dealt with, or arranged abreast of one another in a row (and contrasted with a column), as in a military formation.
    The line forms on the right.
    There is a line of houses.
    A band of brothers gathering round me, made, / Although unarmed, a steadfast front[…]now the line / Of war extended, to our rallying cry / As myriads flocked in love and brotherhood to die. 1817, Percy Shelley, The Revolt of Islam
    1. (military, nautical) Ellipsis of line of battle.
17. (military) The regular infantry of an army, as distinguished from militia, guards, volunteer corps, cavalry, artillery, etc.
18. (music) A series of notes forming a certain part (such as the bass or melody) of a greater work.
    Students and the instructor sing the harmony line while the instructor plays the melody line on the piano. 2015, Mícheál Houlahan, Philip Tacka, Kodály in the Third Grade Classroom
19. A series or succession of ancestors or descendants of a given person; a family or race; compare lineage.
    Of his lineage am I, and his offspring / By very line, 1387, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales
    They hail'd him father to a line of kings. c. 1604, William Shakespeare, Macbeth
    [T]he rest of the history of the Old Testament derives the succession of the line of David to the Captivity, of which line was to spring the restorer of the kingdom of God[…]. 1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
20. A small amount of text. Specifically:
    1. A written or printed row of letters, words, numbers, or other text, especially a row of words extending across a page or column, or a blank in place of such text.
       The answer to the comprehension question can be found in the third line of the accompanying text.
    2. A verse (in poetry).
       Nay if you read this line, remember not, / The hand that writ it. 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 71
    3. A sentence of dialogue, especially in a play, movie, or the like.
       He was perfecting his pickup lines for use at the bar.
       "It is what it is" was one of his more annoying lines.
       Anyone who has worked with Littlewood will wince at the memory of going over single lines time and time again, each actor in turn speaking the line until the valid intonation, phasing and emphasis emerged. 2010, Alison Hodge, Actor training, page 138
    4. A lie or exaggeration, especially one told to gain another's approval or prevent losing it.
       Don't feed me a line!
21. Course of conduct, thought, occupation, or policy; method of argument; department of industry, trade, or intellectual activity.
    He is uncommonly powerful in his own line; but it is not the line of a first-rate man. 1835, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, edited by Henry Nelson Coleridge, Specimens of the table talk of the late Samuel Taylor Coleridge, page 45
22. The official, stated position (or set of positions) of an individual or group, particularly a political or religious faction.
    Omar has challenged Elliott Abrams’s record in Latin America, taken a firm line against Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, and advocated for—wait for it—the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine (even though the headlines have focused on her expressing support for the right to boycott as a tactic). 2019-9-10, Jonathan Guyer, The American Prospect, number Fall 2019
    Remember, your answers must match the party line.
23. (slang) Information about or understanding of something. (Mostly restricted to the expressions get a line on, have a line on, and give a line on.)
    Judy gave me a line on a lawyer who's supposed to be the best in the business.
    She's got the best line on Hickey. Maybe she knows a way to put the heart back into him. 11 March 1916, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post
24. A set of products or services sold by a business, or by extension, the business itself.
    line of business, product line
    How many buses does the line have?
    The airline is in danger of bankruptcy.
25. (stock exchange) A number of shares taken by a jobber.
26. Any of an ill-defined set of units of length, varying according to the country, discipline, industry, and date of application, commonly with no indication of the intended magnitude:
    1. (historical) A tsarist-era Russian unit of measure, approximately equal to one tenth of an English inch, used especially when measuring the calibre of firearms.
       The arm of the Russian infantry is the three-line rifle, model 1891 (caliber 0.299 inch)[…]. 1906, Reports of military observers to the armies in Manchuria, page 261
       A “line” was a unit of measurement used in tsarist Russia and equal to about a tenth of an inch. The 3-line rifle, therefore, had a bore of three lines, or approximately .30 caliber. 2013, The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia, page 561
    2. One twelfth of an inch.
       The cut is measured in thickness from a quarter of a line to a line and a half (a line is one-twelfth of an inch). 1883, Alfred Swaine Taylor, Thomas Stevenson, The principles and practice of medical jurisprudence
    3. One sixteenth of an inch.
    4. One fortieth of an inch.
       In case any of the committee do not understand what is meant by a rate per line, I may say that buttons, being very small, are not measured by the foot or inch, but by the line, a line being one-fortieth of an inch. For example, that is a 27-line button[…]. 1922, “Statement of James Turner, Representing Universal Button Fastening Co., Detriot, Mich.”, in Hearings Before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, page 5337
27. (advertising) Short for agate line.
    Advertising rates, line contract, less than 500 agate lines, 12 cents per line; 1,000 to 2,000 lines, 7 cents; 5,000 to 10,000 lines, 5 cents. 1912, Miscellaneous Series, numbers 7-11, page 25
28. (historical) A maxwell, a unit of magnetic flux.
    At the same time, however, for calculation in the metric system, one metre is taken as the unit for the length of the conductor, one metre per second as the unit velocity, and one line per square centimetre as the unit of field density. 1898, Alfred Eugene Wiener, Practical calculation of dynamo-electric machines, page 47
    The density will now be only one quarter of a line per square centimetre, and therefore a unit pole placed at a distance of 2 centimetres from a similar pole, will only be acted on with a force of one quarter of a dyne,[…]. 1903, William Richard Kelsey, Continuous current dynamos and motors and their control, page 39
    The Paris Congress of 1900 adopted the name gauss as that of the unit of intensity of field, one gauss signifying one line per square centimetre. The same Congress also named one line as one maxwell, but everybody still uses the term line. 1904, Silvanus Phillips Thompson, Dynamo-electric machinery: a manual for students of electrotechniques: Volume 1, Part 1, page 74
    A magnetic flux is said to have a density of one line per square centimeter when it exerts on a unit north pole a force of one dyne. 1909, Henry Metcalf Hobart, Electricity: a text book designed in particular for engineering, page 58
29. (baseball, slang, 1800s, with "the") The batter's box.
30. (fencing) The position in which the fencers hold their swords.
    Thus, for example, in the line of Quarte, the direct thrust is parried by dropping the point under the adversary's blade and circling upwards, throwing off the attack in the opposite line (that of Tierce), and upon the direct thrust in the line of Tierce, by a similar action throwing off the attack in the opposite line (that of Quarte). 1861, George Chapman, Foil Practice, with a Review of the Art of Fencing, page 12
31. (engineering) Proper relative position or adjustment (of parts, not as to design or proportion, but with reference to smooth working).
    the engine is in line / out of line
32. A small path-shaped portion or serving of a powdery illegal drug, especially cocaine.
    Buy white line, go a long way / Either up your nose or through your vein / With nothing to gain except killing your brain 1983, “White Lines (Don't Do It)”, performed by Grandmaster Melle Mel
    "Let's have a line." He pulled a razor blade from his pocket and scooped out a couple of mounds. He laid out seven thick lines on a mirror. He rolled up a fifty-dollar note and snorted a line. 1998, Luke Davis, Candy
    Yes, we did. We both did a line, but maybe close to a half gram of crystal meth. I did a line and he did a way much bigger line. 2004, Burl Barer, Broken Doll, page 64
    Snorting it was a much slower blast off and a longer less intense buzz, that was much easier to function on. A few minutes after you snort a line you can feel the niacin rush coming up your back and washing over your head,[…]. 2007, D. C. Fuller, Meth Monster: Crankin' Thru Life a Look Into the Abyss, page 474
    "You know that scene in Lady and the Tramp where they're slurping up both ends of a noodle and end up kissing?" "Y-yes..." "It was like that, but with a line of cocaine instead of pasta." 2013, Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content (webcomic), Number 2386: The Thin White Line
33. (obsolete) Instruction; doctrine.
34. (genetics) A population of cells derived from a single cell and containing the same genetic makeup.
35. (perfusion line) a set composed of a spike, a drip chamber, a clamp, a Y-injection site, a three-way stopcock and a catheter.
36. (ice hockey) A group of forwards that play together.
37. (Australian rules football) A set of positions in a team which play in a similar position on the field; in a traditional team, consisting of three players and acting as one of six such sets in the team.
38. (medicine, colloquial) A vascular catheter.
    patient had a line inserted
    line sepsis
39. (South Korean idol fandom) A group of people born in a certain year (liners).
    maknae line; hyung line; 97 line

verb

1. (transitive) To place (objects) into a line (usually used with "up"); to form into a line; to align.
   to line troops
2. (transitive) To place persons or things along the side of for security or defense; to strengthen by adding; to fortify.
   to line works with soldiers
   Line and new repair our towns of war With men of courage and with means defendant. 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, ii 4
3. (transitive) To form a line along.
   […] the crowd that lined the road to watch us as we wound slowly on. 1899, Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing, We and the world: a book for boys, page 19
   The mountains which have lined the road on the left here cross it and the road makes a very sharp ascent, going over them. 1909, Road Notes : Cuba, United States War Department, Second Section, General Staff, No. 16, page 359
   Knee-high garden lamps lined the path; Jim was careful to stay in their pools. Assuming he was being watched, the last thing he wanted to do was give them any reason to chase after him in the dark. 2009, Jon Fasman, The Unpossessed City
4. (transitive) To mark with a line or lines; to cover with lines.
   to line a copy book
5. (rail transport) To align (one or more switches) to direct a train onto a particular track.
   The dispatcher lined the switches at Pickle interlocking for the freight turnout to clear the train into the passing track before the express arrived.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To represent by lines; to delineate; to portray.
   All the pictures fairest lined Are but black to Rosalind. 1598, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, iii 2
7. (transitive) To read or repeat line by line.
   to line out a hymn
   De young folks say ’tain’t stylish to lin’ ’um no mo’; / Dat deys got edikashun, an’ dey wants us all to know / Dey like to hab dar singin’-books a-holin’ fore dar eyes, / An’ sing de hymns right straight along “to manshuns in de skies”. 1897, Daniel Webster Davis, “De Linin’ ub de Hymns”, quoted in Jerma A. Jackson, “Exuberance or Restraint: Music and Religion after Reconstruction”, in Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age, Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-8078-2860-1, page 15
   By the 1840s a typical hush-harbor meeting of African Americans had become “an amalgam of African initiation practices and camp meeting Christianity,” which included “bits of Christian doctrine and ritual” with a “focus on African initiation and ritual events.” […] A lined hymn or a “sperchul” provided the opening music. In “linin’,” also called “deaconin’,” an elder would sing two lines of a hymnbook song, perhaps one of Watts’s hymns or an older one, which would be repeated by the group of worshipers in “wailing cadences.” 1999, Janet Duitsman Cornelius, “‘Cords of Love’: Religious Cultures Intertwined, yet Separate”, in Slave Missions and the Black Church in the Antebellum South, Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, page 10
8. (intransitive, baseball) To hit a line drive; to hit a line drive which is caught for an out. Compare fly and ground.
   Jones lined to left in his last at-bat.
9. (transitive) To track (wild bees) to their nest by following their line of flight.
10. (transitive) To measure.

Etymology 2

From Old English līn (“flax, linen, cloth”). For more information, see the entry linen.

noun

1. (obsolete) Flax; linen, particularly the longer fiber of flax.
   And clothed all in Garments made of line. 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book V, Canto VII, VI
   To spin 2 lb. of line. a. 1818, J. C. Atkinson (ed.), North Riding Record Society (publisher), Quarter sessions records VIII p. 52 (compilation of historical records published in 1890, as quoted in the English Dialect Dictionary in 1902)
   Which proved fatal to the line or flax crops. 1837, S. Hick, Everett, section 195
   1641.—14 yards of femble cloth, 12s. ; 8 yards of linen, 6s. 8d. ; 20 yards of harden, 10s. ; 5 linen sheets, 1l. ; 7 linen pillow bears, 8s. ; 2 femble sheets and a line hard sheet, 10s. ; 3 linen towels, 4s. ; 6 lin curtains and a vallance, 12s. ; […] 1858, Journal of the Statistical Society of London, page 409
   T'burring o' t'woo' an' line wheels, 1869, Borrowdale, Dixon, section 2

verb

1. (transitive) To cover the inner surface of (something), originally especially with linen.
   The bird lines its nest with soft grass.
   to line a cloak with silk or fur
   to line a box with paper or tin
   paintings lined the walls of the cavernous dining room
   Even in an era when individuality in dress is a cult, his clothes were noticeable. He was wearing a hard hat of the low round kind favoured by hunting men, and with it a black duffle-coat lined with white. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess
2. To reinforce (the back of a book) with glue and glued scrap material such as fabric or paper.
   […] such books are always close back—ie, the leather cover is always glued or pasted to the bare back of the book. After books have been lined the bands are put on if the style of binding admits of this operation. 1891, English mechanics and the world of science, volume 52, page 306
   Then again line the back, again bringing the paper a little further in than the second lining, and repeat the operation according to what you think the weight and size of the book demands in extra strength, […] 1895, The British Printer, volume VIII, page 94
3. (transitive) To fill or supply (something), as a purse with money.
   to line the shelves
   because the charge amounteth mostly very high for any one man's purse, except lined beyond ordinary, to reach unto 1602, Richard Carew, edited by Thomas Tonkin, Carew's Survey of Cornwall, published 1811, page 34

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Middle French ligner.

verb

1. (transitive, now rare, of a dog) To copulate with, to impregnate.
   A bitch lined by a mangy dog is very liable to produce mangy puppies, and the progeny of a mangy bitch is certain to become affected some time or other. 1825, A Lawson, The Modern Farrier
   Pliny states that the inhabitants of India take pleasure in having their dog bitches lined by the wild tigers, and to facilitate this union, they are in the habit of tieing them when in heat out in the woods, so that the male tigers may visit them. 1855, William Youatt, The Dog
   Bedlamite was a black dog, and although it may be safely asserted that he lined upwards of 100 bitches of all colours, red, white, and blue, all his produce were black. 1868 September, The Country Gentleman's Magazine, page 292