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Crossword clues for line

line
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
line
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a boundary line
▪ There was some disagreement about the exact position of the boundary line.
a commuter line (=a railway line that commuters use)
▪ There’s a fast and reliable commuter line across Kent.
a crowd lines the street/route etc
▪ A crowd lined the street to catch a glimpse of the president.
a cruise line/operator (=company that provides cruises)
a line drawing (=consisting only of lines)
▪ The front cover had a line drawing of a girl on the beach.
a line graph
▪ A line graph is a way of presenting figures in visual form.
a line of poetry
▪ She often quoted lines of poetry.
a line/channel of communication (=a way of exchanging information, especially in an organization)
▪ It's important to maintain good lines of communication between managers and staff.
a phone line (=a telephone wire or connection)
▪ Listeners jammed the phone lines, demanding to hear the song.
a product range/line (=the range of things that a company makes and sells)
▪ We want to broaden the company’s product line.
a telephone line
▪ They didn’t even have a telephone line.
assembly line
behind enemy lines (=behind the edge of an area that is controlled by an enemy army)
▪ Men from the First Airborne Division were dropped behind enemy lines.
bikini line
bottom line
▪ In radio, you have to keep the listener listening. That’s the bottom line.
branch line
▪ The rail company may have to close the branch line to Uckfield.
chat line
chat-up line
chorus line
color line
crossed line
▪ I phoned him up and got a crossed line.
crossed the finish line
▪ James crossed the finish line in just under four minutes.
cross...picket line
▪ Very few workers were willing to cross the picket line.
dividing line
▪ What’s the dividing line between normal drinking and addiction?
dotted line
double yellow lines (=two lines of paint that mean you cannot park there at any time)
finishing line
▪ James crossed the finish line in just under four minutes.
firing line
fishing line
follow/toe the party line (=to support the official opinion)
▪ He refused to toe the party line.
foul line
front line
▪ troops who had served in the front line at Magdeburg
goal line
in a straight line
▪ They sat down in a straight line.
International Date Line
laugh lines
laughter lines
Lay it on the line
▪ Lay it on the line and tell them what’s really been happening.
learn...lines
▪ The actors hardly had time to learn their lines before filming started.
ledger line
line dancing
line drawing
line management
line manager
line of scrimmage
line printer
line rentalBritish English (= the money that you pay to use a telephone line)
lined paper (=printed with horizontal lines, for writing)
▪ a note written on lined paper
line...engaged
▪ She rang Mrs Tavett but the line was engaged.
lines of demarcation
▪ traditional lines of demarcation between medicine and surgery
long line
▪ a long line of people
main line
▪ the main line to Moscow
marriage lines
next in line to the throne (=will become king when the present ruler dies)
▪ He is next in line to the throne .
party line
▪ He refused to toe the party line.
picket line
▪ So far, there has been very little violence on the picket line.
Plimsoll line
plumb line
power line
▪ overhead power lines
production line
railway line
▪ an old disused railway line
sb’s line of work (=type of work)
▪ I meet lots of interesting people in my line of work.
sleek lines
▪ the sleek lines of the new Mercedes
snow line
starting line
state line
▪ We crossed the state line into Missouri.
story line
▪ The play had a strong story line.
supply line
▪ the threat to supply lines
take/adopt a hard line (on sth)
▪ The school takes a very hard line on drugs.
taking a soft line (=not being strict enough)
▪ Courts have been taking a soft line with young offenders.
taking a tough line
▪ The EU is taking a tough line with the UK over this issue.
the chain/line of command (=a system of passing decisions from people at the the top to the bottom)
▪ Our company has a traditional management chain of command.
the front of the line/queue
▪ It took ages to get to the front of the queue.
the melody line (=the melody, compared to the other parts of the music)
▪ The melody line is often set too high for people singing in church.
tree line
vertical line
▪ a vertical line
washing line
wrinkled/lined (=with a lot of small lines, especially because of old age)
▪ His wrinkled face must once have been handsome.
yellow line
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
bottom
▪ The bottom line to private investment remains, as always, the extent and nature of government funding.
▪ The bottom line is, these things are very, very rare events.
▪ What do these figures do for the bottom line?
▪ For avoiding trouble instead of expanding it to force-feed the bottom line?
▪ But for the Thorn deal cash, the bottom line would have looked very shaky.
▪ But the bottom line to consider when tasting wine is whether or not you actually like it.
▪ Changing society may be harder than changing the workplace, which, after all, is driven by the bottom line.
dotted
▪ I have outlined its possible shape with dotted lines, but, of course, this is pure guess-work.
▪ The quickest way to do this is to rub out dotted lines on a map.
▪ The dotted line in each diagram separates the superior courts from the inferior courts.
▪ The three dotted lines have different elevations and denote differences in relative organ size associated with changes in life style.
▪ In b the slope of each dotted line is less than unity - in each case denoting negative allometry.
▪ But how many of these companies forget about you once you've signed on the dotted line.
▪ Protein residues in contact are also shown, with hydrogen bonds as dotted lines.
▪ The dotted line A-C-D - E represents the only sensible route.
fine
▪ Under Eye Anti-Wrinkle Patches, £3.95, smooth out fine lines and reduce puffiness in just 30 minutes.
▪ I could trace its movements, the deep strokes, the fine, deft lines.
▪ This is indeed treading the fine line between glory and disaster.
▪ The charcoal glen plaids are distinctive for their fine royal blue lines.
▪ Terror was the key, of course, for there's a fine line between paralysing dread and galvanising fright.
▪ I was walking a fine line between my old community and my new school.
▪ The final section considers the fine line between the explication of research methodology and confession.
▪ Mr Rubin is walking a fine line.
front
▪ He had apparently been caught by a gas attack some way behind the front line.
▪ Or his practice of filming in the front line, and even beyond the front line?
▪ Three miles behind the front line they were on a prepared road with ditches on either side.
▪ Today's war on drugs is taken to the front lines with a Magnolia storytelling style and a Three Kings look.
▪ For most of the game they were able quite comfortably to hold the Norwich front line.
▪ It seemed that we had more NCOs dodging duty back in Cu Chi than we did in the front lines.
▪ Still walking east, the party were aware that they were almost at the front line and had to proceed with caution.
▪ Warren Goss was among the Federals who were hugging the ground in the front lines.
hard
▪ When we power dressed we made our bodies look angular and more aggressive, with hard, sharp lines.
▪ But the Clinton administration is still taking a hard line.
▪ Use a cotton bud to blend the colours together, so there are no hard lines.
▪ Every few minutes, she would pause to look me over, to see if there were hard lines that needed rearrangement.
▪ For both sides in this conflict have returned to the hardest of hard lines.
▪ There was speculation that pragmatists within the party opposed the hard-line stance of its Swadeshi Jagran Manch lobby.
▪ Thereafter, it was fostered by de Gaulle's staunch support of Adenauer's hard line on Berlin.
▪ But both sides are taking a hard line.
long
▪ They were towing a desert manta on a long black line.
▪ After the game he joined his teammates in a long line as they slapped hands with their opponents.
▪ The Bill is the latest in a long line of measures to protect society from criminals and to improve the penal system.
▪ The high gas prices and long lines were prolonged by government interference in the private sector.
▪ As Hyacinth walked, the long line of hotels, great and small, disgorged its residents on to an increasingly crowded pavement.
▪ One more in a long line of Evans's inventions.
▪ In Teheran poor peoples wait in long lines in the snow for paraffin.
▪ Wait in a very long line.
main
▪ The dissenters pursue four main lines of attack.
▪ A main water line to the Coliseum burst Sunday afternoon, leaving the building without running water.
▪ The West Coast main line was electrified in the 1960s and much rolling stock is 15 to 20 years old.
▪ On the main line, the remorseless reduction in fleet sizes resulted in Mark 3 vehicles steadily being more predominant.
▪ The Great Central is Britain's only preserved main line railway.
▪ In a switched-star system, only main trunk lines need handle the full range of signals, to and from subscribers.
▪ Gorman worked on the Railway as a platelayer and as such, occupied a small cottage maybe 200yd away from the main line.
▪ What are the main lines of enquiry you intend to pursue?
new
▪ New line, ie Shift+Enter starts a new line without starting a new paragraph.
▪ The new legislative lines could be dramatically different from the current boundaries.
▪ These have to be tested and followed up in new lines of inquiry.
▪ Gene was general manager and Paul vice-president of the new line.
▪ The original estimates are joined to the new ones by lines.
▪ If Clinton finds that bipartisanship sells throughout the primary season, maybe thinking along new lines will become possible.
▪ After laying 95 metres of new line, Skorupka's line met and the connection was made.
▪ We talked for about an hour about his new makeup line.
straight
▪ Our screwed up eyes imagined they say a straight line in the bottom of Central Gully.
▪ We fell into position forming a straight line with Orange One and Orange Three after he took the controls.
▪ All objects have a propensity to move in straight lines, upwards or downwards, towards their natural place.
▪ The company introduced a Missioninspired recliner with straight lines and vertical slats.
▪ Always travelling in the same direction - a straight line.
▪ As long as he moved in a straight line at a uniform speed, he felt a wonderful sense of buoyancy.
▪ Great circle routes plot as straight lines on some map projections such as the Gnomonic.
▪ The two wrote their original Burns and Allen bits with Gracie delivering the straight lines and George telling the wayward stories.
tough
▪ The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, took a tough line, saying that he would not tolerate wanton destruction and violence.
▪ Jack is not discouraged by her tough line.
▪ Tough line: Langbaurgh Council is to take a tougher line with tenants who harass their neighbours.
▪ On the other side, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright took a similarly tough line.
▪ Whereas the United States was in favour of taking a tough line, Britain argued that economic aid should not be stopped.
▪ They stressed that it was vital that environmental groups took a very tough line with the industry right at the outset.
▪ If she had taken a tougher line with them at once, they would have known where to stop.
▪ The Profitboss takes a tough line on sub-contracting - a money line.
vertical
▪ Opposing lines - the cross A vertical line is highly energetic in its defiance of gravity.
▪ The unit immediately locates the nearest station, with a vertical green line traversing a gray screen until locking into a signal.
▪ At the printing stage the four slightly different images are optically sliced into vertical lines.
▪ The point or date of the intervention is represented on the graph by a solid vertical line.
▪ This temperature drop is represented by the vertical line DD' in the phase diagram.
▪ There is a vertical line in spirituality that goes from the beast to the angel, and on which we oscillate.
▪ Align to line up typeset or other graphic material as specified, using a base or vertical line as the reference point.
▪ Install joist hangers on each vertical line, lining up the bottom of the hanger with the bottom of the ledger.
yellow
▪ And it has also got rid of the yellow lines which once scarred them.
▪ She had driven slowly forward to the yellow demarcation line and the frightening folds of barbed wire.
▪ And collapse in the center of the boulevard, on the double yellow line.
▪ A double-#yellow line garages and fuel stops.
▪ I had to drive over the double yellow line to pass them.
▪ I parked Armstrong on double yellow lines outside her shop and dived in.
▪ A golden yellow line replaces that of the Redline Rasbora, and follows an almost identical path from nose to tail.
■ NOUN
assembly
▪ New industrial methods based on assembly lines and continuous processes were typically more dependent on electricity than the ones they replaced.
▪ Twenty-four hours may be adequate in a laboratory, but not on an assembly line.
▪ A group of Benn's assembly line girls came in, joined them for half an hour, and went out again.
▪ The challenge was to find domestic workers who would help the supplier set up an assembly line for fishing rods.
▪ Manufacturing engineer working on assembly line design.
▪ He was proud of his fully mechanized assembly line and wanted to show it off.
▪ The inherent frustrations of assembly line work are also to be found in housework.
▪ Boeing blamed late aircraft deliveries, snarled assembly lines and shortages of parts and skilled labor for the loss.
branch
▪ Yet it does retain a branch line to Uckfield in East Sussex.
▪ Manchester 765 seen operating here in Heaton Park, Manchester on a former tramway branch line into the park. 3.
▪ That branch line of decision-making is there.
▪ Away to the north, curving smoothly, stretched a branch line that Holly could see illuminated by the arc lights.
▪ Teviot Bridge near Roxburgh on the former St Boswells-Kelso-Tweedmouth branch line.
▪ West Cranmore Station Somerset typical of the rural branch lines of the country.
▪ Such branch lines are of course vulnerable to changes in output level or distribution policy of their users.
finish
▪ It will only slow you down on the sprint to the finish line.
▪ Past leaders of the pack have even been known to hold hands in order to cross the finish line together.
▪ The person who crosses the finish line first in a race has definitely had the most superior performance that day.
▪ Golden Larch got up and galloped to the finish line.
▪ Join in the sense of achievement as Maiden crosses the finish line off Southampton.
▪ Life is a Sisyphean race, run ever faster toward a finish line that is merely the start of the next race.
▪ Day 14 Regatta day circumnavigating Skorpios, finish line by Nidri quay.
▪ In the global economy, competitiveness is a race with no finish line, and gains in competitiveness are fleeting.
manager
▪ One passionate advocate of appraisals is Canon Hardaker, whose lucid guidelines should be compulsory reading for many a line manager.
▪ They fail to court line managers in the operating groups who make the major decisions.
▪ Your line manager will also discuss and agree realistic objectives with you.
▪ What do staff and line managers expect from an organization?
▪ During the time they have off they are kept in touch with what is going on at work by their line manager.
▪ All these convey an organisational unit headed by a line manager.
▪ Nate Cocello allowed a knowing smile to cross his face at what he knew would be the natural reactions of line managers.
▪ That's why the Quality in action workshop is designed to be delivered by line managers to their own staff.
phone
▪ The big bookies' credit office phone lines were red hot.
▪ Power and phone lines striated the sky.
▪ The three phone lines would remain open to take his call, and tapped.
▪ The actual amount of data going over the phone line is quite small.
▪ Prestel is accessed through ordinary phone lines, always at the cost of a local call.
▪ But with digital instruments and digital storage, the data could be transferred through phone lines from the source to the computer.
▪ The National Autistic Society will now operate a phone line for families in the region affected by autism.
▪ And the phone lines to the Cities were busy all evening.
picket
▪ Things are quiet on the picket line on this Sunday afternoon.
▪ The picket line was supplemented by daily long-range air patrols by naval aircraft.
▪ On the picket lines themselves, the police made uncompromising use of the discretion available to them under public-order law.
▪ The latter was happy to be walking the fairways of Sandwich instead of battling with strikers on the picket lines.
▪ Now get this: the other workers respected the picket line.
▪ Hundreds of trade unionists came day after day to support the Grunwick strikers on the picket line.
▪ Crossing a picket line, making your own deal.
poverty
▪ Rowntree's stringent poverty line produced remarkably similar results to those of Booth.
▪ For a family of four, the current poverty line stands at about $ 16, 000.
▪ New statistics hurled at us: 70 percent of our fellow citizens live below the poverty line.
▪ In examining the issue of the working poor, it is essential to examine the poverty line.
▪ On the other hand, a third of the retired today live at or below the poverty line.
▪ It would cover families with incomes of up to 300 percent of the poverty line.
▪ Surveys revealed that a third of the population lived below the poverty line.
power
▪ They look like jittery, hysterical little birds crowded together on a power line.
▪ Fires by the hundreds, ignited by overturned stoves and furnaces and downed electric power lines, sprang up in the ruins.
▪ In total some 4,200 metres of 33,000 volt and 11,000 volt power lines were re-routed along the southern boundary of the bypass.
▪ Downed power lines resulted in traffic congestion because of intersections without traffic lights.
▪ Hypothesis Power lines, cancer and cyclotron resonance Living close to overhead power lines may increase the risk of cancer in humans.
▪ Lightning or high winds can knock branches or whole trees on to power lines, cutting the electricity to an entire neighborhood.
▪ Living close to overhead power lines may increase the risk of cancer.
▪ He looked beyond the gate to the street, where three cars had floated into a heap under a swinging power line.
product
▪ This procedure assumes the use of a standard costing system in an established product line.
▪ There will be about 15 management heads along product lines, with specialization on a regional basis, depending on demand.
▪ To keep track of all the various product lines, companies structured according to specialized functions.
▪ The company has been making tuning devices for over thirty years and the R450 is the latest in their product line.
▪ It will be interesting to see how the two company's product lines merge.
▪ That product line now produces over 20 percent of our net profits.
production
▪ I was allowed to work on my own rather than in the production line.
▪ They first came off the production line in 1988.
▪ Education is not a production line, teachers are not operatives, and assessment is more than quality control.
▪ The team approach is used in every activity, not just on the production line.
▪ Mass production had begun with the installation by Henry Ford of the moving production line at his Highland Park plant.
▪ In a human pharmaceutical factory the synthesis of a useful chemical needs a production line.
▪ The P5 will share the same production lines as the 80486.
▪ Every job we lose now, every factory we close, every production line that stops producing, means more imports later.
railway
▪ As they came closer, Harry made out a railway line snaking through farms to a long pier.
▪ This, of course, is an issue very much apparent in the fortunes of local railway lines at the present day.
▪ Steam on the kitchen window cuts off the railway lines, making the tiny kitchen for once a friendly place.
▪ The route is waymarked throughout its length and uses footpaths, sections of disused railway line and some minor roads.
▪ Closures of railway lines had been taking place for many years, accelerated by the growing availability of cars in the 1950s.
story
▪ Can I say also what a load of rubbish the story lines are in Coronation Street at the moment.
▪ Chapter books require that we and our children maintain our hold on the story line over the duration of the reading period.
▪ But now they have gone, the story line has gone from strength to strength.
▪ This simple story line was elaborated in the works of Hesiod, Aeschylus, Lucian, Ovid, and others.
▪ It can make a story line clearer, which is always an advantage.
▪ They write you better story lines, you work more episodes, get more attention.
▪ My second book, although it has used the same idea of telekinetic powers, has a completely different story line.
▪ The singer of popular song lyrics is a storyteller, and must communicate that story line in a personal, intimate way.
telephone
▪ For example, the speech we hear over a telephone line is perfectly understandable.
▪ The mailbag and telephone line brought many criticisms.
▪ To prevent that, his practice installed a new telephone line and instituted a policy of returning calls within five minutes.
▪ He'd had a separate telephone line installed; she lived with that.
▪ The assailants had also cut her telephone lines.
▪ The latest news down the telephone line is that Madonna has just bought one.
▪ The office now has two dedicated telephone lines as well as connection to the main switchboard.
■ VERB
build
▪ The saliva dries and hardens quickly and with repeated flights, the bird slowly builds up the line into a low wall.
▪ Beck was not proposing public ownership of the generating plants, but he did want the province to build the transmission lines.
▪ We want to build a line which will connect Seatown with the big cities.
▪ In Crete Vincent Scully found a repeating pattern of palaces and towns built in line with horned mountains.
▪ The Stadio Olimpico, a stone's throw from the Tiber, is built on gladiatorial lines.
▪ We go up to Loc Ninh, then we build a line to Phnom Penh.
cross
▪ Like the Robinson-Pattisson connection they could also easily cross lines of religious affiliation.
▪ Past leaders of the pack have even been known to hold hands in order to cross the finish line together.
▪ He crossed the line in three hours 44 minutes.
▪ In their studio, gritty Delta edges were given a smooth, appealing, urban sheen that crossed easily over racial lines.
▪ In December the Red Cross persuaded both sides to allow it to cross their battle lines.
▪ It showed the puck crossing the goal line at 19: 59. 9.
▪ Safely over the down line, she started to cross the up line, but stumbled and fell.
▪ These potential sources of emerging infections are diverse and cross the lines of various scientific disciplines and government agency responsibilities.
divide
▪ The Council, said the author, should not be reported as if it was divided along party lines.
▪ In 1845 the congregational Baptist church also divided on sectional lines, never to reunite.
▪ There, politics and politicians frequently divide along racial lines.
▪ The dividing line on approval of FoxTrax appears clear.
▪ It serves, in the gospel of Mark as a kind of water shed, a dividing line in his gospel.
▪ A border is a dividing line marking an abrupt shift between two separate, sometimes antagonistic, entities.
▪ We were on the dividing line between the inshore waters and the Kuroshio.
▪ One must insist on this clear dividing line between the two stages of writing.
draw
▪ Q&A lets you draw boxes and lines on your document and do the usual text enhancements, like bold, italic and so on.
▪ Mr Clinton drew the line at around $ 52 billion.
▪ The future of a culture may depend on where and how it draws the line.
▪ He desperately needs to draw a sharper line here.
▪ She had asked to borrow his pyjama bottoms but he drew the line at that.
▪ The difficulty in drawing this intellectual line, however, is daunting.
▪ The prisoner sat at a small table, drawing lines on a piece of paper.
follow
▪ More expensive systems use laser beams to follow lines.
▪ The hot-air balloon skims along a wash, following the narrow line of trees and bushes across the desert.
▪ The lower props are horizontal; the topmost prop is curved to follow the line of the girder.
▪ The priesthood built itself and if we help it along we are only following the line of least resistance.
▪ From here to the village of Sherrif Hutton the Way follows the line of the river.
▪ Apart from pilgrimage churches, most examples follow certain general lines.
▪ The political story gave indications of following along parallel lines.
▪ Few London-bound travellers follow their line today and much of the road is a relatively minor one.
read
▪ He read the few lines through, then closed his eyes for a moment before reading aloud.
▪ He would read only one line, just the opening, something to sustain him.
▪ Simon presents his story in a typically heroic manner, so I have to read between the lines.
▪ She reads zigzag lines in the dirt that the Ant Family has written and copies the words into her purple notepad.
▪ Frequently it is necessary to read between the lines.
▪ Jody goes over the two faxes again, this time slowly, trying to read between the lines.
▪ They could use speed control to read each line before the next comes up.
▪ He reads a few lines and stops short.
stand
▪ Joshua Morris left the hall and stood in line for a cup of Gold Blend.
▪ People used to stand in line to buy luxury high-rise units.
▪ Outside the front door of the school stood a line of teachers wearing the same robes as the Headmaster.
▪ Oswald stood at the white line, looking away.
▪ Instead I take another coffee, standing in line amongst some very fat people.
▪ He stood at the white line and waited.
▪ Paisley stood on a picket line outside the Ballylumford power station in Larne and tried to persuade workers not to go in.
▪ You squeeze by several dozen other people who are standing in line to enter....
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(be) in the firing line
▪ And some sources believe the proposal for a £75m prison at Fazakerley is one option now in the firing line.
▪ Foreign tourists are also in the firing line.
▪ He put his old enemy, corporate power, in the firing line.
▪ Its application does put its exponents in the firing line of critical appraisal.
▪ Read in studio A family is living in the firing line of over-enthusiastic golfers because of a planning mistake.
▪ The Law Society too was in the firing line.
▪ Unveiled Benefits are also thought to be in the firing line.
▪ We're public figures and so therefore we know we're in the firing line.
a fine line between sth and sth
▪ It's a fine line between guilt and shame.
▪ There's a fine line between clever and stupid and Warrant are nowhere near it.
along the way/line
▪ Barns were sometimes built with integral aisles, along the lines of a church.
▪ But along the way Alice Thomas Ellis creates an ironic and vivid portrait of London, brilliantly catching its degradation and waste.
▪ He and Wharton are related somewhere along the line.
▪ Moving along the line in the figure shows that a rise in one variable is associated with a rise in the other.
▪ Somewhere along the line, Harriet felt, she had gone wrong with her daughter's upbringing.
▪ The changes that befall us along the way are just the various experiences that we encounter on our journey.
▪ There are quotidian bumps and creases and noteworthy spills all along the way that need attention.
▪ There had been other signals along the way.
be next in line
▪ Prince Charles is next in line to become king of England.
▪ As a lad, Cloud and his two brothers were next in line for the Frankish throne.
▪ Hull, as secretary of state, is next in line to become governor.
▪ You were born to your parents because, right at that moment when they Did It, you were next in line.
cut in line
deathless prose/verse/lines etc
▪ It won't be deathless prose, but it should be a grammatical and effective piece of writing.
draw a line (between sth)
▪ Accordingly, the law seems to draw a line between lack of consent and lack of authorisation.
▪ However, there was no facility to simply draw a line and let the computer work out the curves.
▪ The Office of Government Commerce was set up last April to draw a line under this relatively poor performance.
▪ They draw a line that the public, according tothe polls, rejects.
▪ Ventura has effectively drawn a line against his own involvement in the 2000 race.
▪ What you needed for her to do was to draw a line for you.
▪ With a fork draw lines over the warm chocolate to resemble bark.
draw a line under sth
▪ I can't allow him to draw a line under my relationship with Gloria.
▪ She liked to draw lines under things.
▪ The Office of Government Commerce was set up last April to draw a line under this relatively poor performance.
draw the line (at sth)
▪ I don't mind a little mess, but I draw the line at wearing work boots in the house.
▪ But the problem will not be where to draw the line but how to draw it.
▪ I draw the line at Ppesetas and Ppfennigs.
▪ I also needed to draw the line at what I considered appropriate to discuss publicly.
▪ I fell in with those who drew the line at violence.
▪ Mr Clinton drew the line at around $ 52 billion.
▪ Once again, it is left to the courts to draw the line according to their overall judgment of the facts.
▪ The key is knowing where to draw the line before persistence leads to annoyance.
drop sb a line/note
▪ Drop us a line sometime.
▪ After the people have been touched, they drop a £10 note, the usual donation, on the small table.
▪ Do drop me a line, Mrs Surridge, or anyone else who's interested.
▪ If he can not do so, perhaps he will drop me a line.
▪ Just wanted to drop you a note to say break a leg and all those other theatrical cliches.
▪ Keep a folder on your desk, and during the year drop in notes about the special things you did.
▪ Other cities have dropped their line items without allowing departments to keep any of their savings.
▪ She pulled open a drawer to drop the note in.
▪ The telephone isn't connected yet but you can drop a note in.
fall into line
▪ All the Republicans except Elton and Carson fell into line and voted yes.
▪ If you can persuade her, the others will soon fall into line.
▪ If one rotates one of them a little, everything falls into line.
▪ Mr Lamont will order the others to fall into line.
▪ The decision to fall into line was not made for ignoble reasons, but from financial necessity.
feed lines/jokes to sb
feed sb a line
▪ She fed him a line about being busy on Saturday.
▪ Charles wondered if Alex Household had carried out his threat of feeding the wrong lines.
▪ Consumers are being fed this line that merlot is a more refined wine than those harsh, nasty cabernet sauvignons.
▪ He wouldn't feed her the line that would enable her to end her days peacefully in public view.
▪ I got caught last week because I got fed the wrong line.
▪ No one ever knew who had fed this line to Kim.
▪ Taking the bail arm off I fed a little line, re-engaged the pick-up and struck into another cat.
hard line
▪ But both sides are taking a hard line.
▪ But regulators are taking a harder line these days.
▪ But they are taking a hard line in negotiations with the Legislature.
▪ Every few minutes, she would pause to look me over, to see if there were hard lines that needed rearrangement.
▪ In 1969 they took a hard line.
▪ She spoke warmly, but her smile of farewell did not reach her eyes and there were hard lines round her mouth.
▪ Use a cotton bud to blend the colours together, so there are no hard lines.
▪ You can't draw a hard line between international and national politics not these days.
hook, line, and sinker
▪ The media bought Stuart's story hook, line, and sinker.
▪ The people seem to have swallowed the government's promises hook, line, and sinker.
▪ What an idiot! He believed the whole story hook, line, and sinker!
in the front line
▪ It would be like having all our soldiers in the front line at the same time.
▪ Or his practice of filming in the front line, and even beyond the front line?
▪ She is trapped in the front line on the killing streets of Western Sarajevo.
▪ They were sitting in the front line of chairs.
▪ We really were in the front line.
lay sb/sth on the line
▪ And Moonshake lay theirs on the line. right now; today, not yesterday.
▪ I laid it on the line.
▪ I couldn't blame her; she'd laid things on the line from the start, as I had.
▪ You give somebody else a chance, and guys lay it on the line for you.
muff your lines
▪ They won't muff their lines or fall short in a crisis.
oblique line/stroke etc
▪ Also it should be lit at night and have traffic cones placed in an oblique line on the approach to it.
▪ The apparent movement of both the lion and the Cupids along an imaginary, oblique line is largely responsible for this effect.
▪ The gill openings were arranged in an oblique line as in lampreys.
outside line/call etc
▪ A few telephones had direct outside lines when the switchboard closed down at night.
▪ Caroline Amphlett had left and it was switched through to an outside line.
▪ Each telephone instrument had its own dial and from it can be dialled other extensions as well as outside calls.
▪ She concentrated on the outside call.
▪ There's a private telephone in the compartment in front of you if you need to make any outside calls.
pitch sb a line
▪ She pitched me some line about a bomb scare on the metro.
▪ The Michigan governor, John Engler, pitched that line for Bush last weekend.
premium rate number/line/service
▪ Because of the high cost of providing and gathering this information, Climbline would not exist were it not a premium rate service.
▪ Choice has not been considered in premium rate services.
▪ That is certainly true in the context of telecommunications and, more specifically, in premium rate services.
read between the lines
▪ Reading between the lines, I don't think they want to train people who might soon leave the company.
▪ Perseverance is required to understand the story and you have to read between the lines to find the book's full meaning.
▪ While Anderson did not say directly that changes needed to be made, it was easy to read between the lines.
▪ Although the financial side is far from the whole story, you can usually read between the lines very clearly.
▪ Frequently it is necessary to read between the lines.
▪ Harriet, reading between the lines, knew exactly what her daughter meant.
▪ Jody goes over the two faxes again, this time slowly, trying to read between the lines.
▪ Perseverance is required to understand the story and one had to read between the lines to find the book's full meaning.
▪ Simon presents his story in a typically heroic manner, so I have to read between the lines.
▪ So beware: if we were able to read between the lines that easily, so too can your family and friends!
▪ You will use your powers of anticipation and imagination to read between the lines, to understand message and meaning.
sb's line manager
▪ All these convey an organisational unit headed by a line manager.
▪ One passionate advocate of appraisals is Canon Hardaker, whose lucid guidelines should be compulsory reading for many a line manager.
▪ Your line manager will also discuss and agree realistic objectives with you.
sign on the dotted line
▪ But how many of these companies forget about you once you've signed on the dotted line.
▪ However, before signing on the dotted line, you should think carefully about the risks and the costs.
▪ It all seemed easy - they sign on the dotted line and Balbinder would be virtually taken out of their hands.
▪ The lucky 10, 000 have signed on the dotted line.
▪ You may want another approach to get people to sign on the dotted line.
stand in line
▪ At 6 a.m. people were already standing in line to buy bread.
▪ Damned and despairing we stand in line, and behind all success, wealth and power, the henchman is there.
▪ However, you won't find them standing in line for tickets to Bird World.
▪ Instead I take another coffee, standing in line amongst some very fat people.
▪ Joshua Morris stood in line waiting to be searched for an offensive weapon.
▪ Joshua Morris left the hall and stood in line for a cup of Gold Blend.
▪ They resented standing in line while tellers explained money-market accounts and no-load funds to prospective investors.
▪ Wherever the vaccine was available, parents with their children stood in lines that sometimes snaked for blocks around doctors' offices.
▪ You squeeze by several dozen other people who are standing in line to enter....
step out of line
▪ The boss is very tough on anyone who steps out of line.
▪ The prisoners were warned that if they stepped out of line they would be severely punished.
▪ He's not going to step out of line unnecessarily.
take a firm stand/line
▪ But the Young King was incapable of taking a firm line.
▪ Dauntless decided to take a firm stand in the matter.
▪ Handing his keys to the parking valet, he decided that he would take a firm stand.
▪ Stopping short of direction intervention, Carter had taken a firm line.
▪ The decision to take a firm stand comes after local councillors revealed the misery suffered by many of their constituents.
the bottom line
▪ Most people want to work in a place where they feel valued. That's the bottom line.
▪ Still, the bottom line is that Wisconsin won the game.
▪ The bottom line is, he's gone and he's not coming back.
▪ The bottom line is, men don't change very much after marriage.
the end of the road/line
▪ Monday's loss was the end of the line for Martin, who finished third in the tournament.
▪ At the end of the line, the local authority careers service is called in to rescue what remains of this shambles.
▪ At the end of the road, a four-foot-tall rock cairn stands between us and the beach.
▪ Disappointed, I dragged myself to the end of the line.
▪ For river people all along the Missouri and Mississippi valleys, Fort Benton was the end of the line.
▪ Had the mighty champions really reached the end of the road?
▪ Hop on over to the end of the road and give her a tinkle.
▪ The sale marks the end of the line for the 61-year-old chain, which has had a rocky recent history.
▪ This is the end of the road for Pharaoh and his people.
the finishing line
the line/path of least resistance
▪ If you take the line of least resistance or fail to be consistent, you will actually make things worse.
▪ Political will in such situations is a low explosive, blasting along the lines of least resistance.
▪ Pretty soon, the water, which follows the path of least resistance, has its own plan for your driveway.
▪ The priesthood built itself and if we help it along we are only following the line of least resistance.
▪ Usually he just takes the line of least resistance.
▪ When it constructs its tunnel underground the rabbit, naturally enough, takes the line of least resistance.
the poverty line
▪ All three groups at that level earned incomes that were just at or below the poverty line for a family of four.
▪ It would cover families with incomes of up to 300 percent of the poverty line.
▪ New statistics hurled at us: 70 percent of our fellow citizens live below the poverty line.
▪ Ten percent of the population of York lived in families with earnings below the poverty line.
▪ The average shortfall of income beneath the poverty line for poor children has also fallen by 31.7 per cent.
▪ They were not far removed at any time from the poverty line, and more frequently below it than above it.
▪ We already cover children up to 150 percent of the poverty line.
▪ When millions around the world are being killed in war, dying from starvation or living below the poverty line?
the snow line
throwaway remark/line/comment etc
▪ He thought the remark was melancholy, sadly philosophical, a throwaway line for an aimless afternoon.
▪ Lopez says, a throwaway line for a throwaway job.
toe the line
▪ Catholic politicians have been pressured to toe the line on issues such as abortion.
▪ Gail realized that she had to toe the line if she wanted to keep her job.
▪ They didn't agree, but as government employees they had to toe the line.
▪ And yet de Gaulle himself was remarkably confident that the army would toe the line.
▪ He could be expected, then, to toe the line when it came to military versus civilian decisions.
▪ It's only fair that if growers are doing their bit, other potential polluters must also toe the line.
▪ Journalists who refuse to toe the line will have to be sacked.
▪ They certainly choose their abuse soas to indicate to those who do toe the line that they have lost it.
▪ They were no longer the oppressed, wretched teen menials who must take orders, toe the line.
▪ You are put in a slot and expected to toe the line.
where do you draw the line?
▪ Once you open the door to things that are not related to the Holocaust, where do you draw the line?
▪ That obviously does not extend to the levels of awareness which human consciousness exhibits, but where do you draw the line?
▪ Where do you draw the line?
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ lines of longitude
▪ a few lines of poetry
▪ a new line of clothes for winter
▪ a railroad line
▪ a shipping line
▪ a straight line
▪ A train had broken down further along the line.
▪ After 30 years on the stage, I still forget my lines.
▪ I'm getting little lines around my eyes.
▪ If the ball goes over this line, it's out of play.
▪ In front of the house there is a line of tall trees.
▪ Maisie had arranged her teddy bears in a line on the bed.
▪ Martin opened the letter and read the first few lines - it was bad news.
▪ Mike drew a line along the wall to show where the tiles would come up to.
▪ Monica got a fine yesterday for parking on a yellow line.
▪ Read the first two lines of the poem.
▪ Start reading at line 12.
▪ The 38th parallel is the line that divides North and South Korea.
▪ the car's smooth elegant lines
▪ The deep lines on his forehead showed that he was a worried man.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And I remember looking back, and at the very end of the line was the calf, following us.
▪ He followed in his own limousine - then drove the Panhard a few hundred yards to the finishing line.
▪ Luckily by then we had enough material - together with a few more worry lines.
▪ She, good girl, slid over the bow and into the shallows with the line.
▪ The second line, to be ready in July, will allow traffic to be rerouted in case of another interruption.
▪ Their tunnel starts in our part of the line.
II.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
bank
▪ There's another high bore tommorrow - when big weekend crowds are expected to line the banks to watch the surfing spectacular.
▪ Crowds lined the river banks to watch more than twenty water sport enthusiasts brave the six foot tidal wave.
▪ Trainloads of spectators lined the banks to watch the awesome spectacle of a river of ice racing relentlessly toward the Falls.
▪ Live oak and valley oak dot the landscape, and willows and sycamores line the banks of seasonal creeks.
building
▪ By the third and fourth centuries at least eleven buildings lined the road, often separated by narrow side-streets or lanes.
▪ Counter Assault Teams were rushed to the rooftops of buildings lining the park.
▪ Both are inner-city areas, with tall residential buildings and workplaces lining narrow turn-of-the-century streets.
crowd
▪ The crowds that lined the roads on the way to the guillotine looked much like most of the people in Wallsend.
▪ On election day, bands play in Treby Magna and crowds line the way to the polls, heckling the voters.
▪ There's another high bore tommorrow - when big weekend crowds are expected to line the banks to watch the surfing spectacular.
▪ Expectant crowds lined a fenced-off area divided into 1,000 yard-square plots.
▪ Yet by far the most moving part of the whole day was the reaction of the crowds which lined the streets.
▪ On the feast of Corpus Christi, crowds lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the consecrated host in procession.
pocket
▪ Inside, Titford and Barwick could apply the soft-talk while lining their elegant pockets with silver.
▪ The private finance initiative has not papered over the cracks, although it has lined plenty of pockets.
▪ Why don't journalists hold to the light those who grasp and grab, lining their pockets?
▪ Aromatic residues lining the binding pocket are shown in purple.
▪ Today the leading players have generally abandoned such violent methods, preferring to indulge in insider trading or to line their pockets.
road
▪ Here were the upright golden flames of the poplars lining the road, and the willows yellowing down by the creek.
▪ The crowds that lined the roads on the way to the guillotine looked much like most of the people in Wallsend.
▪ Giant dunes of crushed rock and miles of mammoth piping line the road.
▪ Pine trees line the road, fields are overgrown and idyllic cottages sit snug in the forests.
▪ Large palms and banana trees lined the roads and hamlets.
▪ The giant palms lining the road inspected me disinterestedly as I coasted along trying to find the Alcade Apartments.
▪ Rifles, bayonets, pistols, haversacks, cartridge-boxes, canteens, blankets, belts, and overcoats lined the road.
route
▪ I was overcome by the warmth of feeling displayed by the many thousands of people who lined the route of our march-past.
▪ Dozens of people lined the route, some running alongside the bus, others taking pictures and some throwing things at it.
▪ Spectators lining the route occasionally got closer to the action than they'd anticipated.
▪ Thousands of people lined the route to pay their respects.
▪ Hundreds of spectators are expected to line the route.
▪ The car rattled along, crossing the myriad narrow gauge loco tracks that ran between the factories lining the route.
▪ They mean 170 fewer troops lining the route for the Birthday Parade.
shelf
▪ Bags of manure line the shelves.
▪ She bought books and lined the shelves of her bookcase.
▪ Sticky bottles of cough medicine lined his bathroom shelf.
▪ Rows of sweetie jars lined the shelves.
side
▪ Many of the country roads are lined on either side with tall trees, at times breathtakingly beautiful.
▪ Alexei rode between dragons moulded from paper and paste which were lined up in a side street.
▪ The moons will look like pinpoints of light lined up on either side of the planet.
▪ A yellow tram ran along the centre and the street was lined on both sides with closed shops.
▪ Since November, the panels have lined both sides of a subterranean wall near the entrance to a train station.
▪ The head-lamps flashed over bushes and trees lining the sides of the narrow winding lane.
▪ Glass cases lining one side of the corridor are full of books, stuffed birds, globes and charts.
street
▪ Old men and women lined the dirt street and cheered as her wagon passed by.
▪ The funeral procession started peacefully in Brooklyn, with thousands following the coffin and lining the streets.
▪ Inside, food, game and beer booths line the plaza and streets.
▪ In the city of Rome it is believed that some 40,000 insulae lined the streets and squares.
▪ I looked down on the houses lining the steep streets of Saltville.
▪ Every evening hundreds of dealers lined Quarles Street.
thousands
▪ I was overcome by the warmth of feeling displayed by the many thousands of people who lined the route of our march-past.
▪ Can Eric and the thousands of teleworkers lining up behind him be-come career telecommuters?
▪ The street lights gave the pavements a glittering glow as if thousands of diamonds were lining his path.
▪ The meetings ran for seventeen days, and thousands of enthusiastic guests lined up every evening to attend the open sessions.
tree
▪ Pine trees line the road, fields are overgrown and idyllic cottages sit snug in the forests.
▪ On their return they discovered he had not only done as instructed but painted the trees which lined the drive as well.
▪ Large palms and banana trees lined the roads and hamlets.
▪ Paul D looked at the black trees lining the roadside, their defending arms raised against attack.
▪ It would have been a pretty road in spring, with the blossom on the trees that lined it.
wall
▪ Or you could line the walls with bookshelves from waist-level, with cupboards underneath to provide storage and serving space.
▪ The coffins were lined with roses, and hundreds of telegrams lined the walls.
▪ By instigating a calcium deficiency inside the cells, the drugs cause muscles lining arterial walls to relax.
▪ The room was flooded with a soft illumination, cleverly directed at the Gobelin tapestries that lined one wall.
▪ Instead he fills them with any of the dozens of different varieties of liquid that line the walls of his lab.
▪ The articles of Arthur Ronald Constance, the famed ring columnist, lined the walls in ancient, browned, curling tatters.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(be) in the firing line
▪ And some sources believe the proposal for a £75m prison at Fazakerley is one option now in the firing line.
▪ Foreign tourists are also in the firing line.
▪ He put his old enemy, corporate power, in the firing line.
▪ Its application does put its exponents in the firing line of critical appraisal.
▪ Read in studio A family is living in the firing line of over-enthusiastic golfers because of a planning mistake.
▪ The Law Society too was in the firing line.
▪ Unveiled Benefits are also thought to be in the firing line.
▪ We're public figures and so therefore we know we're in the firing line.
a fine line between sth and sth
▪ It's a fine line between guilt and shame.
▪ There's a fine line between clever and stupid and Warrant are nowhere near it.
along the way/line
▪ Barns were sometimes built with integral aisles, along the lines of a church.
▪ But along the way Alice Thomas Ellis creates an ironic and vivid portrait of London, brilliantly catching its degradation and waste.
▪ He and Wharton are related somewhere along the line.
▪ Moving along the line in the figure shows that a rise in one variable is associated with a rise in the other.
▪ Somewhere along the line, Harriet felt, she had gone wrong with her daughter's upbringing.
▪ The changes that befall us along the way are just the various experiences that we encounter on our journey.
▪ There are quotidian bumps and creases and noteworthy spills all along the way that need attention.
▪ There had been other signals along the way.
be next in line
▪ Prince Charles is next in line to become king of England.
▪ As a lad, Cloud and his two brothers were next in line for the Frankish throne.
▪ Hull, as secretary of state, is next in line to become governor.
▪ You were born to your parents because, right at that moment when they Did It, you were next in line.
deathless prose/verse/lines etc
▪ It won't be deathless prose, but it should be a grammatical and effective piece of writing.
every cloud has a silver lining
hard line
▪ But both sides are taking a hard line.
▪ But regulators are taking a harder line these days.
▪ But they are taking a hard line in negotiations with the Legislature.
▪ Every few minutes, she would pause to look me over, to see if there were hard lines that needed rearrangement.
▪ In 1969 they took a hard line.
▪ She spoke warmly, but her smile of farewell did not reach her eyes and there were hard lines round her mouth.
▪ Use a cotton bud to blend the colours together, so there are no hard lines.
▪ You can't draw a hard line between international and national politics not these days.
hook, line, and sinker
▪ The media bought Stuart's story hook, line, and sinker.
▪ The people seem to have swallowed the government's promises hook, line, and sinker.
▪ What an idiot! He believed the whole story hook, line, and sinker!
in the front line
▪ It would be like having all our soldiers in the front line at the same time.
▪ Or his practice of filming in the front line, and even beyond the front line?
▪ She is trapped in the front line on the killing streets of Western Sarajevo.
▪ They were sitting in the front line of chairs.
▪ We really were in the front line.
oblique line/stroke etc
▪ Also it should be lit at night and have traffic cones placed in an oblique line on the approach to it.
▪ The apparent movement of both the lion and the Cupids along an imaginary, oblique line is largely responsible for this effect.
▪ The gill openings were arranged in an oblique line as in lampreys.
outside line/call etc
▪ A few telephones had direct outside lines when the switchboard closed down at night.
▪ Caroline Amphlett had left and it was switched through to an outside line.
▪ Each telephone instrument had its own dial and from it can be dialled other extensions as well as outside calls.
▪ She concentrated on the outside call.
▪ There's a private telephone in the compartment in front of you if you need to make any outside calls.
premium rate number/line/service
▪ Because of the high cost of providing and gathering this information, Climbline would not exist were it not a premium rate service.
▪ Choice has not been considered in premium rate services.
▪ That is certainly true in the context of telecommunications and, more specifically, in premium rate services.
sb's line manager
▪ All these convey an organisational unit headed by a line manager.
▪ One passionate advocate of appraisals is Canon Hardaker, whose lucid guidelines should be compulsory reading for many a line manager.
▪ Your line manager will also discuss and agree realistic objectives with you.
take a firm stand/line
▪ But the Young King was incapable of taking a firm line.
▪ Dauntless decided to take a firm stand in the matter.
▪ Handing his keys to the parking valet, he decided that he would take a firm stand.
▪ Stopping short of direction intervention, Carter had taken a firm line.
▪ The decision to take a firm stand comes after local councillors revealed the misery suffered by many of their constituents.
the bottom line
▪ Most people want to work in a place where they feel valued. That's the bottom line.
▪ Still, the bottom line is that Wisconsin won the game.
▪ The bottom line is, he's gone and he's not coming back.
▪ The bottom line is, men don't change very much after marriage.
the end of the road/line
▪ Monday's loss was the end of the line for Martin, who finished third in the tournament.
▪ At the end of the line, the local authority careers service is called in to rescue what remains of this shambles.
▪ At the end of the road, a four-foot-tall rock cairn stands between us and the beach.
▪ Disappointed, I dragged myself to the end of the line.
▪ For river people all along the Missouri and Mississippi valleys, Fort Benton was the end of the line.
▪ Had the mighty champions really reached the end of the road?
▪ Hop on over to the end of the road and give her a tinkle.
▪ The sale marks the end of the line for the 61-year-old chain, which has had a rocky recent history.
▪ This is the end of the road for Pharaoh and his people.
the finishing line
the line/path of least resistance
▪ If you take the line of least resistance or fail to be consistent, you will actually make things worse.
▪ Political will in such situations is a low explosive, blasting along the lines of least resistance.
▪ Pretty soon, the water, which follows the path of least resistance, has its own plan for your driveway.
▪ The priesthood built itself and if we help it along we are only following the line of least resistance.
▪ Usually he just takes the line of least resistance.
▪ When it constructs its tunnel underground the rabbit, naturally enough, takes the line of least resistance.
the poverty line
▪ All three groups at that level earned incomes that were just at or below the poverty line for a family of four.
▪ It would cover families with incomes of up to 300 percent of the poverty line.
▪ New statistics hurled at us: 70 percent of our fellow citizens live below the poverty line.
▪ Ten percent of the population of York lived in families with earnings below the poverty line.
▪ The average shortfall of income beneath the poverty line for poor children has also fallen by 31.7 per cent.
▪ They were not far removed at any time from the poverty line, and more frequently below it than above it.
▪ We already cover children up to 150 percent of the poverty line.
▪ When millions around the world are being killed in war, dying from starvation or living below the poverty line?
the snow line
throwaway remark/line/comment etc
▪ He thought the remark was melancholy, sadly philosophical, a throwaway line for an aimless afternoon.
▪ Lopez says, a throwaway line for a throwaway job.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Fans lined the street just to get a glimpse of the band.
▪ Harbin lined the ball into right field.
▪ Hundreds of people lined the streets to see the football team go by.
▪ The route taken by the Queen was lined with crowds of people waving flags.
▪ Use wax paper to line the baking pan.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Bags of manure line the shelves.
▪ In addition, the Hurricanes also lined up several weeks back and rather easily handled then-No. 2 Virginia Tech.
▪ Its boasts about fanatical recruits lining up for paradise through the martyrdom of suicide-bombing may be bluster.
▪ The coffin's interior had apparently been lined with thick felt.
▪ These are no longer there either, but the edges of the field were lined with horse boxes, vans and trailers.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
line

Shaft \Shaft\, n. [OE. shaft, schaft, AS. sceaft; akin to D. schacht, OHG. scaft, G. schaft, Dan. & Sw. skaft handle, haft, Icel. skapt, and probably to L. scapus, Gr. ????, ????, a staff. Probably originally, a shaven or smoothed rod. Cf. Scape, Scepter, Shave.]

  1. The slender, smooth stem of an arrow; hence, an arrow.

    His sleep, his meat, his drink, is him bereft, That lean he wax, and dry as is a shaft.
    --Chaucer.

    A shaft hath three principal parts, the stele [stale], the feathers, and the head.
    --Ascham.

  2. The long handle of a spear or similar weapon; hence, the weapon itself; (Fig.) anything regarded as a shaft to be thrown or darted; as, shafts of light.

    And the thunder, Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage, Perhaps hath spent his shafts.
    --Milton.

    Some kinds of literary pursuits . . . have been attacked with all the shafts of ridicule.
    --V. Knox.

  3. That which resembles in some degree the stem or handle of an arrow or a spear; a long, slender part, especially when cylindrical. Specifically:

    1. (Bot.) The trunk, stem, or stalk of a plant.

    2. (Zo["o]l.) The stem or midrib of a feather. See Illust. of Feather.

    3. The pole, or tongue, of a vehicle; also, a thill.

    4. The part of a candlestick which supports its branches.

      Thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold . . . his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.
      --Ex. xxv. 31.

    5. The handle or helve of certain tools, instruments, etc., as a hammer, a whip, etc.

    6. A pole, especially a Maypole. [Obs.]
      --Stow.

    7. (Arch.) The body of a column; the cylindrical pillar between the capital and base (see Illust. of Column). Also, the part of a chimney above the roof. Also, the spire of a steeple. [Obs. or R.]
      --Gwilt.

    8. A column, an obelisk, or other spire-shaped or columnar monument.

      Bid time and nature gently spare The shaft we raise to thee.
      --Emerson.

    9. (Weaving) A rod at the end of a heddle.

    10. (Mach.) A solid or hollow cylinder or bar, having one or more journals on which it rests and revolves, and intended to carry one or more wheels or other revolving parts and to transmit power or motion; as, the shaft of a steam engine. See Illust. of Countershaft.

  4. (Zo["o]l.) A humming bird ( Thaumastura cora) having two of the tail feathers next to the middle ones very long in the male; -- called also cora humming bird.

  5. [Cf. G. schacht.] (Mining) A well-like excavation in the earth, perpendicular or nearly so, made for reaching and raising ore, for raising water, etc.

  6. A long passage for the admission or outlet of air; an air shaft.

  7. The chamber of a blast furnace.

    Line shaft (Mach.), a main shaft of considerable length, in a shop or factory, usually bearing a number of pulleys by which machines are driven, commonly by means of countershafts; -- called also line, or main line.

    Shaft alley (Naut.), a passage extending from the engine room to the stern, and containing the propeller shaft.

    Shaft furnace (Metal.), a furnace, in the form of a chimney, which is charged at the top and tapped at the bottom.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
line

a Middle English merger of Old English line "cable, rope; series, row, row of letters; rule, direction," and Old French ligne "guideline, cord, string; lineage, descent;" both from Latin linea "linen thread, string, line," from phrase linea restis "linen cord," from fem. of lineus (adj.) "of linen," from linum "linen" (see linen).\n

\nOldest sense is "rope, cord, string;" extended late 14c. to "a thread-like mark" (from sense "cord used by builders for making things level," mid-14c.), also "track, course, direction." Sense of "things or people arranged in a straight line" is from 1550s. That of "cord bearing hooks used in fishing" is from c.1300. Meaning "one's occupation, branch of business" is from 1630s, probably from misunderstood KJV translation of 2 Cor. x:16, "And not to boast in another mans line of things made ready to our hand," where line translates Greek kanon, literally "measuring rod." Meaning "class of goods in stock" is from 1834. Meaning "telegraph wire" is from 1847 (later "telephone wire").\n

\nMeaning "policy or set of policies of a political faction" is 1892, American English, from notion of a procession of followers; this is the sense in party line. In British army, the Line (1802) is the regular, numbered troops, as distinguished from guards and auxiliaries. In the Navy (1704, as in ship of the line) it refers to the battle line. Lines "words of an actor's part" is from 1882. Lines of communication were originally transverse trenches in siegeworks.

line

"to cover the inner side of," late 14c., from Old English lin "linen cloth" (see linen). Linen was frequently used in the Middle Ages as a second layer of material on the inner side of a garment. Related: Lined; lining.

line

late 14c., "to tie with a cord," from line (n.). Meaning "to mark or mark off with lines" is from mid-15c. Sense of "to arrange in a line" is from 1640s; that of "to join a line" is by 1773. To line up "form a line" is attested by 1889, in U.S. football.

Related phrases:
Wiktionary
line

Etymology 1 n. A path through two or more points (''compare ‘segment’''); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight. vb. 1 (label en transitive) To place (objects) into a line (usually used with "up"); to form into a line; to align. 2 (label en transitive) To place persons or things along the side of for security or defense; to strengthen by adding; to fortify. Etymology 2

n. (label en obsolete) flax; linen, particularly the longer fiber of flax. vb. (label en transitive) To cover the inner surface of (something), originally especially with linen. Etymology 3

vb. (label en transitive now rare of a dog) to copulate with, to impregnate.

Related phrases:
WordNet
line

  1. v. be in line with; form a line along; "trees line the riverbank" [syn: run along]

  2. cover the interior of (garments); "line the gloves"

  3. make a mark or lines on a surface; "draw a line"; "trace the outline of a figure in the sand" [syn: trace, draw, describe, delineate]

  4. mark with lines; "sorrow had lined his face"

  5. fill plentifully; "line one's pockets"

  6. reinforce with fabric; "lined books are more enduring"

line

  1. n. a formation of people or things one beside another; "the line of soldiers advanced with their bayonets fixed"; "they were arrayed in line of battle"; "the cast stood in line for the curtain call"

  2. a mark that is long relative to its width; "He drew a line on the chart"; "The substance produced characteristic lines on the spectroscope"

  3. a formation of people or things one behind another; "the line stretched clear around the corner"; "you must wait in a long line at the checkout counter"

  4. a length (straight or curved) without breadth or thickness; the trace of a moving point

  5. text consisting of a row of words written across a page or computer screen; "the letter consisted of three short lines"; "there are six lines in every stanza"

  6. a single frequency (or very narrow band) of radiation in a spectrum

  7. a fortified position (especially one marking the most forward position of troops); "they attacked the enemy's line"

  8. the methodical process of logical reasoning; "I can't follow your line of reasoning" [syn: argumentation, logical argument, line of reasoning]

  9. a conductor for transmitting electrical or optical signals or electric power [syn: cable, transmission line]

  10. a connected series of events or actions or developments; "the government took a firm course"; "historians can only point out those lines for which evidence is available" [syn: course]

  11. a spatial location defined by a real or imaginary unidimensional extent

  12. a slight depression in the smoothness of a surface; "his face has many lines"; "ironing gets rid of most wrinkles" [syn: wrinkle, furrow, crease, crinkle, seam]

  13. a pipe used to transport liquids or gases; "a pipeline runs from the wells to the seaport" [syn: pipeline]

  14. the road consisting of railroad track and roadbed [syn: railway line, rail line]

  15. a telephone connection [syn: telephone line, phone line, telephone circuit, subscriber line]

  16. acting in conformity; "in line with"; "he got out of line"; "toe the line"

  17. the descendants of one individual; "his entire lineage has been warriors" [syn: lineage, line of descent, descent, bloodline, blood line, blood, pedigree, ancestry, origin, parentage, stemma, stock]

  18. something (as a cord or rope) that is long and thin and flexible; "a washing line"

  19. the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money; "he's not in my line of business" [syn: occupation, business, job, line of work]

  20. in games or sports; a mark indicating positions or bounds of the playing area

  21. (often plural) a means of communication or access; "it must go through official channels"; "lines of communication were set up between the two firms" [syn: channel, communication channel]

  22. a particular kind of product or merchandise; "a nice line of shoes" [syn: product line, line of products, line of merchandise, business line, line of business]

  23. a commercial organization serving as a common carrier

  24. space for one line of print (one column wide and 1/14 inch deep) used to measure advertising [syn: agate line]

  25. the maximum credit that a customer is allowed [syn: credit line, line of credit, bank line, personal credit line, personal line of credit]

  26. a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence; "she was humming an air from Beethoven" [syn: tune, melody, air, strain, melodic line, melodic phrase]

  27. a short personal letter; "drop me a line when you get there" [syn: note, short letter, billet]

  28. a conceptual separation or demarcation; "there is a narrow line between sanity and insanity" [syn: dividing line, demarcation, contrast]

  29. mechanical system in a factory whereby an article is conveyed through sites at which successive operations are performed on it [syn: production line, assembly line]

Related phrases:
Gazetteer
Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Líně

Líně is a village and municipality ( obec) in Plzeň-North District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. Líně lies approximately south-west of Plzeň and south-west of Prague.

The municipality covers an area of , and has a population of 2,396 (as at 3 July 2006).

Public domestic and private international airport is located on area of the village ( ICAO: LKLN). The airport was used as a base for the Soviet 6th Guards Fighter Aviation Division during Operation Danube between 21 August and 10 November 1968.

LINE (combat system)

LINE is a close quarters combat system, derived from various martial arts, used by the United States Marine Corps between 1989 and 1998, and then from 1998 through to 2007 for the US Army Special Forces. It was developed by retired combat-arms Marine Ron Donvito.

Officially, the name stands for Linear Infighting Neural Override Engagement; this is, however, a backronym coined during the project's inception.

Line (electrical engineering)

In electrical engineering, a line is, more generally, any circuit (or loop) of an electrical system. This electric circuit loop (or electrical network), consists of electrical elements (or components) connected directly by conductor terminals to other devices in series.

Line (unit)

The line or British line (abbreviated L or l) was a small English unit of length, variously reckoned as , , , or of an inch. It was not included among the units authorized as the British Imperial system in 1824.

Line (play)

Line is a 1967 one-act play by Israel Horovitz, his first play produced. It is an absurdist drama about 5 people waiting in line for an event (what event it is, is never made clear—several of the characters' stated expectations contradict the others). Each of the characters uses their wiles in an attempt to be first in line, getting more and more vicious as the play continues.

A revival of Line is the longest-running play in Manhattan and the longest-running Off-Off-Broadway show on the boards, having played continuously at the 13th Street Repertory Theater since 1974.

Line (heraldry)

The lines of partition used to divide and vary fields and charges in heraldry are by default straight, but may have many different shapes. Care must sometimes be taken to distinguish these types of lines from the extremely unusual and non-traditional use of lines as charges, and to distinguish these shapes from actual charges, such as "a mount [or triple mount] in base," or, particularly in German heraldry, different kinds of embattled from castle walls.

In Scotland, varied lines of partition are often used to modify a bordure (or sometimes another ordinary) to difference the arms of a cadet from the chief of the house.

Line (geometry)

The notion of line or straight line was introduced by ancient mathematicians to represent straight objects (i.e., having no curvature) with negligible width and depth. Lines are an idealization of such objects. Until the 17th century, lines were defined in this manner: "The [straight or curved] line is the first species of quantity, which has only one dimension, namely length, without any width nor depth, and is nothing else than the flow or run of the point which […] will leave from its imaginary moving some vestige in length, exempt of any width. […] The straight line is that which is equally extended between its points."

Euclid described a line as "breadthless length" which "lies equally with respect to the points on itself"; he introduced several postulates as basic unprovable properties from which he constructed all of geometry, which is now called Euclidean geometry to avoid confusion with other geometries which have been introduced since the end of 19th century (such as non-Euclidean, projective and affine geometry).

In modern mathematics, given the multitude of geometries, the concept of a line is closely tied to the way the geometry is described. For instance, in analytic geometry, a line in the plane is often defined as the set of points whose coordinates satisfy a given linear equation, but in a more abstract setting, such as incidence geometry, a line may be an independent object, distinct from the set of points which lie on it.

When a geometry is described by a set of axioms, the notion of a line is usually left undefined (a so-called primitive object). The properties of lines are then determined by the axioms which refer to them. One advantage to this approach is the flexibility it gives to users of the geometry. Thus in differential geometry a line may be interpreted as a geodesic (shortest path between points), while in some projective geometries a line is a 2-dimensional vector space (all linear combinations of two independent vectors). This flexibility also extends beyond mathematics and, for example, permits physicists to think of the path of a light ray as being a line.

A line segment is a part of a line that is bounded by two distinct end points and contains every point on the line between its end points. Depending on how the line segment is defined, either of the two end points may or may not be part of the line segment. Two or more line segments may have some of the same relationships as lines, such as being parallel, intersecting, or skew, but unlike lines they may be none of these, if they are coplanar and either do not intersect or are collinear.

Line (ice hockey)

In ice hockey, a line is a group of forwards that play in a group, or "shift", during a game.

A complete forward line consists of a left wing, a center, and a right wing, while a pair of defensemen who play together are called "partners." Typically, an NHL team dresses twelve forwards along four lines and three pairs of defensemen, though some teams elect to dress a seventh defenseman, or a thirteenth forward. In ice hockey, players are substituted "on the fly," meaning a substitution can occur even in the middle of play as long as proper protocol is followed (under typical ice hockey rules, the substituting player cannot enter the ice until the substituted player is within a short distance of the bench and not actively playing the puck); substitutions can still be made during stoppages. Usually, coordinated groups of players (called linemates) are substituted simultaneously in what are called line changes. Linemates may change throughout the game at the coach's discretion.

Ice hockey is one of only a handful of sports ( gridiron football being one of the most prominent others) that allows for unlimited free substitution and uses a system of multiple sets of players for different situations. Because of the use of lines in hockey, ice hockey rosters have relatively large rosters compared to the number of players on the ice (23 for a typical NHL team, with six on the ice at any given time). Only gridiron football has a larger relative roster size (the NFL has 53 players, 46 active on gameday, 11 on the field).

Line (poetry)

A line is a unit of language into which a poem or play is divided, which operates on principles which are distinct from and not necessarily coincident with grammatical structures, such as the sentence or single clauses in sentences. Although the word for a single poetic line is verse, that term now tends to be used to signify poetic form more generally.

A distinct numbered group of lines in verse is normally called a stanza.

Line (given name)

Line is a female given name, most common in the Nordic countries Denmark and Norway. It is a short form of names which end in -line, like Caroline. The Swedish form is Lina. In Norway its Name day is 20 January.

Line (formation)

The line formation is a standard tactical formation which was used in early modern warfare. It continued the phalanx formation or shield wall of infantry armed with polearms in use during antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The line formation provided the best frontage for volley fire, while sacrificing maneuverability and defence against cavalry. It came to the fore during the Age of Reason, when it was used to great effect by Frederick the Great and his enemies during the Seven Years' War.

An infantry battalion would form "in line" by placing troops in several ranks, ranging in number from two to five, with three ranks being the most common arrangement. Each rank was approximately half a metre apart from the next, and soldiers in a rank were positioned closely to each other (usually within arm's length), with just enough room to present their weapons, fire, and reload. The line formation required that the troops be well-drilled and constantly supervised by officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs).

In 17th- and 18th-century European armies, NCOs were positioned to the rear of the line. They were equipped with long polearms, which they used to "dress" or arrange the ranks, a practice which included pushing down the weapons of any soldier who was aiming too high, as well as ensuring that the rank remained well-organized and correctly placed. Movement in line formation was very slow, and unless the battalion was superbly trained, a breakdown in cohesion was virtually assured, especially in any kind of uneven or wooded terrain. As a result, line was mostly used as a stationary formation, with troops moving in columns and then deploying to line at their destination.

In addition, the line formation was extremely vulnerable to cavalry charges, from the flanks and rear, and these attacks usually resulted in the complete breakdown of cohesion and even destruction of the unit unless it was able to " form square".

During the Napoleonic Wars, the British Army famously adopted a thin two-rank line formation. This was adopted to compensate for their lack of numbers and to maximize their fire frontage. The British continued to use a two-rank line until the late 19th century. The famous "Thin Red Line" of the 93rd (Highland) Regiment at the Battle of Balaklava successfully held against a Russian cavalry attack, a rare occurrence.

A loose line formation called a skirmish line is used by many modern forces during assaults as it enables maximum firepower to be directed in one direction at once, useful when attacking an enemy position. It also enables the use of fire and movement.

Line (text file)

In computing, a line is a unit of organization for text files. A line consists of a sequence of zero or more characters, usually displayed within a single horizontal sequence.

Depending on the file system or operating system being used the number of characters on a line may either be predetermined or fixed, or the length may vary from line to line. Fixed-length lines are sometimes called records. With variable-length lines, the end of each line is usually indicated by the presence of one or more special end-of-line characters, such as a line feed or carriage return.

A blank line usually refers to a line containing zero characters (not counting any end-of-line characters); though it may also refer to any line that does not contain any visible characters (consisting only of whitespace).

Some tools that operate on text files (e.g., editors) provide a mechanism to reference lines by their line number.

Line (singer)

Line Dissing Karred Larsen (born 1 November 1996, in Skagen) known mononymously as Line (pronounced lee-neh in Danish), is a Danish singer. She took part in season 5 of the Danish X Factor and became one of the finalists in the "Under 25" category, mentored by Pernille Rosendahl. On the final held on 23 March 2012, she finished runner-up with 38.3% of the public vote behind Ida who carried the title with 61.7%. She was signed to Sony Music, and her debut single "Efter dig" reached #3 in the Danish Singles Chart.

Line (application)

Line (styled "LINE") is a proprietary application for instant communications on electronic devices such as smartphones, tablet computers and personal computers. Line users exchange texts, images, video and audio, and conduct free VoIP conversations and video conferences. Line was designed by NHN, a subsidiary of the Korean Internet content service operator Naver. The 15-member development team composed of engineers from Korea, Japan, China, and United States. The Line logo shares the same symbolic green color as Naver.

Line first launched in Japan in 2011, reaching 100 million users within eighteen months and 200 million users only six months later. Line became Japan's largest social network in 2013. In October 2014 Line announced that it had attracted 560 million users worldwide with 170 million active user accounts. In February 2015, it announced the 600 million users mark had been passed and 700 million were expected by the end of the year.

Line was originally developed as a mobile application for Android and iOS smartphones. The service has since expanded to BlackBerry OS (August 2012), Nokia Asha (Asia and Oceania, March 2013), Windows Phone (July 2013), Firefox OS (February 2014), iOS tablets (October 2014), and as a Chrome Browser Application (via the Chrome Web Store). At one point Line was available as a website (non-browser-app), but that has been discontinued. The application also exists in versions for laptop and desktop computers using the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS platforms.

Since 2013 the service is operated by Line Corporation, a spinoff company which remains a subsidiary of Naver.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "line".

Not only was it exceptionally lofty, and on one flank of that series of bluffs which has before been mentioned as constituting the line upon which the Confederate grip of the stream was based, but the tortuous character of the channel gave particular facilities for an enfilading fire on vessels both before and after they came abreast the works.

Commodore had reformed the squadron into a single line abreast, except for the pair detached ahead.

Of the first, containing 8246 lines, an abridgement, with a prose connecting outline of the story, is given in this volume.

The part of the circuit in front of the right delta, however, cannot be construed as a recurving ridge because of the appendage abutting upon it in the line of flow.

It cannot be classified as a whorl as the only recurve is spoiled by the appendage abutting upon it at the point of contact with the line of flow.

The core is placed upon the end of the ridge abutting upon the inside of the loop, and so the imaginary line crosses no looping ridge, which is necessary.

Banish weighed briefly the prospect of trying to get Abies back on the line, then dismissed it and set down the handset.

He looked to the sound man, who reassured him that Abies was still on the line.

Despite years in the Line Marines he still spoke with the crisp accents of his native Churchill.

Already a bit bewildered by their flurry of Classical references and Latin maxims, he was lost when Acer and George exchanged a few lines in French, watching out of the corner of their eyes to see if he had understood.

Through his mother, Rivkah, once Princess of Achar, Axis was second in line to the Acharite throne behind Borneheld.

There is also the resemblance of the plan of the city to the blade of such a knife, the curve of the defile corresponding to the curve of the blade, the River Acis to the central rib, Acies Castle to the point, and the Capulus to the line at which the steel vanishes into the haft.

In another hour I had the se acock installed, the line freed from the keel and the boat floating upright in her shady berth.

The Beast is the current Crompton, Leland, last of his line, a mystery writer who lives as a recluse in New Hampshire and suffers from acromegaly which has disfigured his features.

On the fifth day the line of demarcation extended to the spine of the scapula, laying bare the bone and exposing the acromion process and involving the pectoral muscles.