line1
• noun 1 a long, narrow mark or band. 2 a length of cord, wire, etc. serving a purpose. 3 a row or connected series of people or things. 4 a row of written or printed words. 5 a direction, course, or channel. 6 a telephone connection. 7 a railway track or route. 8 a notional limit or boundary. 9 a connected series of military defences facing an enemy force. an arrangement of soldiers or ships in a column or line formation. a wrinkle in the skin. a contour or outline considered as a feature of design or composition. a range of commercial goods. a sphere of activity. (lines) a way of doing something: thinking along the same lines. (lines) the words of an actor’s part. (lines) a number of repetitions of a sentence written out as a school punishment. • verb 1 stand or be positioned at intervals along. 2 (line up) arrange in a row. 3 (line up) have (someone or something) prepared. 4 lined marked or covered with lines. — PHRASES come (or bring) into line conform (or cause to conform). the end of the line the point at which one can go no further. hold the line not yield to pressure. in line under control. in line for likely to receive. in (or out of) line with in (or not in) alignment or accordance with. lay (or put) it on the line speak frankly. line of fire the expected path of gunfire or a missile. on the line at serious risk. out of line informal behaving inappropriately or incorrectly. — ORIGIN Old English, from Latin linum ‘flax’; later influenced by Old French ligne, from Latin linea.
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