lined

1. 1
   adjective

   Marked with ruled rows of straight lines, as paper made for writing.

   I prefer lined paper for taking neat notes in class.

   The journal's lined pages kept his handwriting straight and even.

   Similarruled

   Oppositeunlined, plain, blank

2. 2
   adjective

   Made with an inner layer of material added inside, as a coat, box, or curtain.

   The lined curtains blocked out most of the morning light.

   She sent the formal invitation in a lined envelope.

   Oppositeunlined

   Note

   Almost everything described this way is made of fabric or is meant to hold something: a coat, a curtain, an envelope, a pair of trousers. With clothing the usual phrase is fully lined, meaning the inner layer runs the whole way through. Context keeps it apart from the ruled-paper meaning. A lined envelope has a layer inside it, while lined paper has rows printed across it.

3. 3
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of line.

   Spectators lined the route hours before the race began.

   The basket was lined with a soft cloth to protect the eggs.

   Note

   One spelling carries several verbs. In "spectators lined the route" it means forming a line along something. Elsewhere it means marking with lines, or placing things in a line, which usually takes up, as in "lined up". In the passive it often takes with: a basket lined with cloth. The participle also settles into adjectives, such as the word for wrinkled skin.

4. 4
   adjective

   Marked with visible creases or wrinkles, as in aging or weathered skin.

   The old sailor's deeply lined face spoke of decades at sea.

   Worry had left her forehead lined well before she turned forty.

   Similarwrinkled, creased, furrowed, weathered

   Oppositesmooth, unlined

   Note

   Dickens uses it the way it is still most often used, set against something else: his face, though lined, bore few traces of anxiety. The word notes what age or weather has done to a face, so it sits comfortably beside though or but. It also takes degree easily. A face can be deeply lined, or more lined than it was a year ago.

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