line
Plurallines
Plurallines
- 1A continuous mark, such as one made by a pen, or a path running through two or more points, whether straight or curved.
He sketched a single line that curved across the canvas.
The artist connected the points with one thin line.
UsageYou draw a line from one point to another; common in a straight line and a dotted line.
Note
The broadest sense of the word, though not the first. Old English līne meant a rope, cable or hawser, and also a row, a rule and a direction. The cord came first, and many later senses keep its stretched shape. Here the line may run straight or bend, as an arrow descends in a curved line.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The cord sense predates the continuous-mark and path senses. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English līne had the stated meanings. en.wiktionary.org
- 2A roughly straight sequence of people or objects, either standing one behind another while waiting or arranged side by side, as in a military formation.
A long line snaked around the block outside the bakery.
The infantry advanced in a long line, shoulder to shoulder, across the open field.
UsageCommon in stand in line, wait in line and get in line. Queue names the same thing.
Note
The military arrangement runs the other way, with people side by side rather than one behind another. A line in that sense is set against a column, as in Shelley's line of war in The Revolt of Islam (1818).
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote The Revolt of Islam, first published under that title in 1818. en.wikisource.org
- The poem contains the phrase “line of war” describing a military front. gutenberg.org
- 3A connected series of public conveyances or the route they run on, such as a railroad track or an established shipping service.
The shipping line operates regular routes across the Pacific.
Engineers inspected the line before the first train of the day.
UsageOften named: the red line, the Elizabeth line. Also a shipping line, a bus line.
Similarroute, track, service, company
Note
Transport lines cover the road as well as the rail: a line of stages runs coaches along a set route, and an express line forwards goods as well as passengers. The word names the established service as much as the track, which is why a railway route and a shipping company are both called lines.
- 4The outer limit of a figure or territory; a boundary, contour, or outline.
Surveyors traced the property line along the old stone wall.
Our house sits just past the city line, so we pay county taxes.
UsageCommon in property line, city line, state line and the line between two yards.
Similarboundary, border, outline, contour, edge
Note
The outer limit of a thing, with boundary, contour and outline as close partners. It can mean the extent of a territory as well as the edge of a shape. In John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667), Eden stretches her line from Auran eastward to the royal towers of Seleucia, measuring a realm rather than drawing a border.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- John Milton wrote Paradise Lost. en.wikipedia.org
- Paradise Lost was first published in 1667. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
- The poem describes Eden extending eastward from Auran to the royal towers of Seleucia. gutenberg.org
- 5A row of written or printed words or characters across a page, including a single line of a poem.
The editor cut three lines from the final paragraph.
Each line of the contract had to be initialed by both parties.
UsageCommon in the first line, the top line, and read between the lines, meaning find a hidden meaning.
- 6The range of goods or services a company offers, or by extension the company itself.
The brand expanded its line to include skincare products.
Their budget line of laptops outsold the premium models.
UsageA line of products: a new line of sneakers, a product line. Companies launch or expand a line.
Similarrange, collection, series
Note
Commerce stretches the word from what is sold to who sells it. A product line is a range of goods. By extension, a company, often a transport company, can itself be a line, so a ferry line can add a new boat to its fleet, and airline is built on the word. In the plural it means each producer's goods: the Illinois State Dairymen's Association's Annual Report of 1890 boasts of the best of everything in their lines.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Airline is formed from air and line. en.wiktionary.org
- The report contains the wording 'the best of everything in their lines'. en.wiktionary.org
- 7A wire or cable connecting two points for telephone, telegraph, or internet communication; a phone or network connection.
Heavy storms knocked out phone lines across the region.
Stay on the line and an agent will be with you shortly.
UsageCommon in stay on the line, hold the line and the line went dead.
Similarconnection, cable, wire
Note
The wire has become the call. Telegraph stations once needed a physical wire between them. Now line means the connection itself, and English judges it by ear: a line is dead, or faint. Dedicated and shared lines describe who has the connection to themselves. The same word covers telegraph wire, telephone cable and network link alike.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Early electric telegraph stations communicated through a physical wire. sil.si.edu
- 8
- 9To cover the inside surface of something with a layer of material, originally linen in particular.
The tailor lined the coat with silk.
Workers line the tunnel walls with concrete for safety.
UsageLine something with a material: lined the coat with silk.
Note
Despite the spelling, this is a different word from the one for marks and rows. It comes from Old English līn, meaning flax or linen, so to line a cloak was first to put linen inside it. Silk, fur, paper and tin followed. Bookshelves lining a hallway blur it with forming a row along, but here the sense is covering, not arranging.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The covering verb has a distinct etymological history from line meaning marks and rows. en.wiktionary.org
- The covering verb derives from Old English līn, meaning flax or linen. en.wiktionary.org
- The verb originally referred especially to providing a linen lining. en.wiktionary.org
- 10A sentence of dialogue, especially one spoken by an actor in a play, movie, or similar work.
He delivered the final line with perfect comic timing.
The director asked her to repeat the lines more slowly.
UsageActors learn, forget or deliver their lines. A pickup line is a set phrase used to start flirting.
Note
The actor's sense, and the one behind learning your lines. A chapter in Actor Training, a book edited by Alison Hodge, recalls Littlewood's rehearsals, where each actor in turn spoke a single line until the right intonation and emphasis emerged. Outside the theater, the word attaches to any well-worn sentence, such as a pickup line or a catchphrase. That use shades toward the line as smooth deception.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Actor Training is edited by Alison Hodge. craftfilmschool.com
- A chapter recalls Littlewood having actors repeat individual lines in turn until the desired intonation and emphasis emerged. craftfilmschool.com
- 11A course of action, thought or argument; also a particular kind of work or business, as in 'line of work'.
Repairing antique clocks is a curious line of business.
After twenty years in sales, she wanted to try a completely different line of work.
UsageCommon in line of work, line of thought and line of inquiry: What line of work are you in?
Similarfield, area, branch, kind
Note
A trade or field of competence, often spoken of as one's own. Coleridge in 1823 judged Mackintosh uncommonly powerful in his own line, but not the line of a first-rate man. The construction in the ___ line names a business casually, as in Norman Lindsay's Dust or Polish? (1950): There ain't anybody but me in the furniture restoring line.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Coleridge made this judgment about Sir James Mackintosh in 1823; the Table Talk entry is dated 27 April 1823. gutenberg.org
- Norman Lindsay wrote Dust or Polish?, first published in 1950. en.wikipedia.org
- The cited wording is “There ain't anybody but me in the furniture restoring line.” en.wiktionary.org
- 12
- 13A trench or defensive barrier, or the boundary marking how far a military force's territory extends.
Reinforcements rushed forward to strengthen the line before the assault.
The two armies dug in along a line stretching for miles.
UsageCommon in hold the line, break through the line and the front line.
Note
War gives the word its hardest edge. A line can be a trench or rampart that is held, or an invisible limit showing how far an army's ground reaches. The same word also names the regular infantry, so context decides whether a line means earthworks, territory or soldiers. Here it is the place, not the people standing in it.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- A military line can be a trench or rampart, or a nonphysical boundary of territory occupied by an army. en.wiktionary.org
- Line also denotes an army's regular infantry. en.wiktionary.org
- 14A succession of ancestors or descendants of a person; a family or race regarded as continuous through the generations.
He traced his line back to a family of medieval merchants.
The royal line ended when the last heir died without children.
UsageCommon phrases include come from a long line of farmers or doctors, the royal line and a line of descent.
- 15A row of workstations, run by people and machines, that a product moves along one stage at a time while it is manufactured or packaged.
A jammed conveyor shut down the whole line for two hours.
She spent ten years on the line at the bottling plant before becoming a supervisor.
UsageUse on when describing someone's work: she worked on the line at a car plant. Full forms include production line and assembly line.
- 16
- 17A hose or pipe of any size, such as one carrying water, fuel, or brake fluid.
Crews shut off the main gas line before digging near the house.
Frozen fuel lines kept the old tractor from starting all winter.
UsageOften follows a word naming what it carries or the system it serves: gas line, water line, fuel line, brake line.
Note
A plumber's and mechanic's use that echoes the word's old meaning of cord or rope: something long and thin running from one point to another.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The word line has an old meaning of cord or rope. en.wiktionary.org
- 18A direction or course along which something moves or points.
The hikers kept to a steady line across the open valley.
He crouched behind the ball to read the line of his putt.
UsageCommon in in a straight line, line of sight and the line of a river.
Similarcourse, direction, path, route, track
Note
Direction survives mostly in fixed phrases built with of, such as line of sight and line of vision. In them, line names the imagined straight path between an eye and what it sees, not anything drawn or visible. The phrase is the natural home of this sense; on its own, line rarely means simply "direction."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The line of sight is an imaginary straight line extending from the eye. courses.byui.edu
- 19A series of notes forming one part (such as the melody or the bass) of a larger musical work.
The cellist's line wove beneath the violins throughout the movement.
She composed a haunting melodic line for the flute.
UsageCommon in bass line, melody line and harmony line.
Note
Here line means something heard: one strand of notes, such as the melody or the bass, running through a larger piece. The word combines freely with the part it names, so teachers and arrangers speak of a harmony line and a melody line. Mícheál Houlahan and Philip Tacka use both terms in Kodály in the Third Grade Classroom (2015).
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Mícheál Houlahan and Philip Tacka wrote Kodály in the Third Grade Classroom. api.pageplace.de
- Kodály in the Third Grade Classroom was first published in 2015. api.pageplace.de
- The authors use both “harmony line” and “melody line” in that book. en.wiktionary.org
- 20The publicly stated stance of a person or group on one or more issues, especially of a political or religious faction.
The minister toed the party line throughout the debate.
Members who broke from the leadership's line were quickly disciplined.
UsageCommon in the party line and the official line; to toe the party line is to follow it.
Less common meanings
- 21A threadlike crease or wrinkle on the face, hand, or body; by extension, a characteristic mark.
Years of laughter had etched fine lines around her mouth.
A single line creased his forehead as he concentrated.
UsageOften plural: fine lines and deep lines around the eyes or mouth.
- 22
- 23A cable or wire, or a set of them carried along poles, towers, or underground, that transmits electricity from one place to another.
Ice built up on the line until it snapped, cutting electricity to thousands of homes.
The utility plans to move its high-voltage lines underground to reduce wildfire risk.
UsageCommon in power line and high-voltage lines; lines come down in storms.
- 24A perfectly straight, one-dimensional figure that extends infinitely in both directions, having length but no width or thickness.
Two distinct points determine exactly one line.
Parallel lines never meet, no matter how far they extend.
Note
The geometer's idealization has length with no breadth or thickness, and no curvature at all. Mathematics parts from everyday speech here: line alone already means straight line, so the longer phrase is a synonym, not a narrowing. It also runs without end in both directions, which separates it from a finite line segment.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- In the stated geometric sense, a line has length but no breadth, thickness, or curvature. en.wikipedia.org
- In current mathematical usage, line means straight line. en.wikipedia.org
- A line extends infinitely in both directions. mathworld.wolfram.com
- A line segment is bounded and finite. en.wikipedia.org
- 25To mark something with a line or lines, or to cover a surface with lines.
Decades of sun and worry had lined the old fisherman's face.
She asked her brother to line the poster board in pencil so her lettering would stay straight.
UsageMost common as lined: lined paper, a face lined with worry.
Similarrule
Note
Ruled paper is lined in this sense: a copy book or ledger gets lines drawn across it. A lined coat or box is a different word, from Old English līn "linen", and means covered on the inside. The two share every form, so context decides: lined paper has lines on it, a lined jacket has a layer inside.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The verb meaning to provide an inside covering is a separate word derived from Old English līn, meaning linen. en.wiktionary.org
- 26The marked boundary at each end of a soccer field that the ball must wholly cross for a goal to count.
Replays showed the ball had cleared the line by inches.
Defenders cleared the ball off the line in the final minute.
UsageSet phrases: the ball crossed the line, a defender cleared it off the line.
Note
Soccer shortens the goal line to the line, and the short form lives in set phrases. A defender who clears off the line kicks the ball away just before it crosses. Clive Lindsay's BBC Sport report of 2011 has St Johnstone's Liam Craig doing exactly that, shortly before an own goal. In such phrases the goal line is assumed and never named.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Clive Lindsay wrote the cited BBC Sport report in 2011. en.wiktionary.org
- The report describes St Johnstone's Liam Craig clearing off the line before an own goal. en.wiktionary.org
- 27A borrowing arrangement in which a bank or other lender lets a customer draw funds whenever needed, up to a limit set in advance.
The company keeps a two-million-dollar line with its bank to get through slow months.
Once the business grew, the lender agreed to raise the limit on our line.
UsageMostly line of credit or credit line.
Similarfacility
- 28A boundary that separates one thing from another, especially the limit past which conduct is no longer acceptable or permitted.
Most coaches tolerate trash talk, but threatening a referee is where they draw the line.
The novel walks a fine line between satire and cruelty.
UsageCommon in draw the line, cross the line and a fine line between two things.
Similarboundary
- 29In sports betting, the odds or point spread that a bookmaker fixes for a particular game or match.
Las Vegas bookmakers opened the line with the Chiefs as seven-point favorites.
Heavy betting on the underdog pushed the line down to two and a half points.
Note
Chiefly an American word, at home in sports coverage as much as among bettors. The line is treated as something that moves: it opens when a bookmaker first posts it, shifts as bets come in, and closes at game time, so people speak of the opening line, the closing line, and a line moving toward one team. Elsewhere, odds is the more usual word.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The opening line is the first line posted by a bookmaker. linescout.net
- Betting lines can change in response to incoming bets. sports.betmgm.com
- The closing line is the final pregame betting line. nyspta.org
- 30A thin tube inserted into a blood vessel to deliver fluids and medication or to draw blood.
The patient's line was flushed with saline every few hours.
A nurse inserted a line into the vein on the back of his hand.
Note
Ward shorthand that also appears in textbooks. Clinicians say a patient had a line inserted, or speak of line sepsis, an infection associated with the catheter. Vascular catheter is the formal name, and line is what gets said at the bedside. An IV line can also mean the whole drip set, tubing and all, not just the tube in the vessel.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Line also appears as terminology in nursing textbooks, including arterial line and central line. wtcs.pressbooks.pub
- Line sepsis is an infection associated with the catheter. christie.nhs.uk
- A line in this sense is a vascular catheter. en.wiktionary.org
- Line can also refer to the infusion set, including components outside the blood vessel. en.wiktionary.org
- 31A small, narrow portion of a powdery illegal drug, especially cocaine, arranged in a strip to be inhaled.
She snorted a line off the back of her hand.
Two lines of white powder sat on the mirror.
- 32A lie or exaggeration, especially one told to win someone's approval or avoid losing it.
He fed his boss a line about the report being almost finished.
Every excuse she offered sounded like another line.
UsageWith a verb of giving: feed or give someone a line; don't give me that line.
Note
Suspicion is built into this sense. The point is less a flat lie than a rehearsed, ingratiating story meant to win approval or keep it.
- 33A circle of latitude or longitude as drawn on a map or globe.
The map marked every line of latitude at ten-degree intervals.
Crossing that line of longitude meant entering a new time zone.
Note
Cartography's line represents a parallel of latitude or a meridian of longitude on a map. In practice it is usually named in full, as a line of latitude or a line of longitude. One such line can be called simply line on its own: the equator, as in crossing the line.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- A meridian of longitude is a semicircle on a spherical Earth, rather than a complete circle. en.wikipedia.org
- The equator can be called the line. en.wiktionary.org
- 34One of the straight, horizontal, parallel strokes of a musical staff, on and between which notes are placed.
A note placed on the middle line of the treble staff represents B.
The composer wrote the high notes above the top line.
Note
These are the written strokes of the staff, not anything heard. Within the staff, a note sits either on one of these horizontal strokes or in the space between two; its pitch also depends on the clef, key signature and accidentals. Musicians therefore speak of lines and spaces together. Keep it apart from the melodic line, which is a succession of notes heard in time rather than ink on the page.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Staff lines are written horizontal strokes. en.wikipedia.org
- Notes can also lie above or below the staff, with ledger lines added where needed. en.wikipedia.org
- Pitch also depends on the clef, key signature and accidentals; an accidental can change pitch without changing staff position. en.wikipedia.org
- Musicians discuss staff lines and spaces together. en.wikipedia.org
- A melodic line is a succession of musical sounds perceived through time. en.wikipedia.org
- 35A population of cells grown in culture and kept going through repeated subculture, usually from a single tissue sample.
- 36A straight stretch with two endpoints, forming only part of an endless geometric line.
- 37In a network diagram, a connection joining two of its points.
- 38The equator, usually called "the line," as in crossing it at sea.
- 39The direction of a bowled cricket ball toward the batter, judged by how far left or right of the stumps it travels.
- 40The route a driver chooses through a curve or corner, especially in racing.
- 41A cord strung up outdoors or indoors for hanging washing to dry.
- 42A length of cord used for measuring distances or marking out ground.
- 43A plot of land marked out by measuring, and so the place or lot assigned to someone to live in.
- 44The outline of a body or the shape of a feature.
- 45Short for "line of battle," the arrangement of ships or troops drawn up to fight.
- 46An army's standing foot regiments, as opposed to militia, guards, volunteer units, horse soldiers, or gunners.
- 47Knowledge or useful facts about something, mostly in phrases such as "get a line on."
- 48A block of shares acquired by a stock-exchange dealer.
- 49Any of various small units of length whose size has differed by country, trade, and period, often without the intended value being specified.
- 50A unit of length used in imperial Russia, about 2.54 millimeters, chiefly for stating gun bore, as in the 'three-line' rifle.
- 51A small measure of length equal to 1/12 inch, about 2.1 millimeters.
- 52A small measure of length equal to 1/16 inch, about 1.6 millimeters.
- 53A small measure of length equal to 1/40 inch, roughly 0.64 millimeters.
- 54Short for agate line, a unit of newspaper advertising space one column wide and 1/14 inch deep.
- 55In older physics usage, another name for the maxwell, the CGS measure of magnetic flux.
- 56The marked area beside home plate where the batter stands.
- 57The way fencers position their blades relative to each other and to the target.
- 58Correct alignment of the parts of a machine, so that it runs smoothly.
- 59Teaching or religious doctrine.
Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.
1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version - 60The full tubing kit for an IV drip, running from the bag through a drip chamber, clamp and injection ports to the catheter in a vein.
- 61A unit of usually three attackers sent out onto the ice as a set, rotating with other such units during a game.
- 62Any of the traditional three-player position groups in an Australian rules football team, such as the half-back or full-forward line.
- 63To set people or things along the sides of something to guard or reinforce it.
- 64To throw the track switches ahead of a train so it is routed onto the right track.
- 65To depict or sketch something with lines.
All the pictures fairest lined Are but black to Rosalind.
1598, William Shakespeare, As You Like It - 66To read out or recite something one line at a time, as when leading a hymn.
- 67To hit a ball hard on a low, nearly flat path through the air, or to make an out when such a hit is caught.
- 68To locate a colony of wild bees by watching which way they fly home and walking in that direction.
- 69To find the size, length or extent of something.
- 70People born in the same year, a grouping used by K-pop fans, as in "97 line" for those born in 1997.
- 71Flax, or cloth made from it.
- 72The long fibers of flax, as distinct from the short ones.
- 73To fill or stock something, as when putting money in a purse or pockets.
- 74To mate with or make pregnant, used especially of a male dog.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English line, from Old English līne ("line, cable, rope, row, direction"), going back through Proto-Germanic words for rope and thread to a word for flax, shared with Latin līnum, whose deeper origin is uncertain. It was also influenced in Middle English by Middle French ligne, from Latin linea. Its oldest sense was "rope, cord, thread," from which the senses "path" and "continuous mark" developed.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- English line descends through Middle English line and Old English līne, with the stated meanings, from Proto-Germanic words for rope and thread. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle French ligne, from Latin linea, influenced the word in Middle English. en.wiktionary.org
- The oldest meaning was rope, cord or thread, from which path and continuous mark developed. en.wiktionary.org
It goes back to Old English līn, which meant "flax, linen, cloth". The entry linen has more on its history.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- This origin of line goes back to Old English līn. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English līn meant flax, linen, cloth. en.wiktionary.org