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Line of fire

Line \Line\, n. [OE. line, AS. l[=i]ne cable, hawser, prob. from L. linea a linen thread, string, line, fr. linum flax, thread, linen, cable; but the English word was influenced by F. ligne line, from the same L. word linea. See Linen.]

  1. A linen thread or string; a slender, strong cord; also, a cord of any thickness; a rope; a hawser; as, a fishing line; a line for snaring birds; a clothesline; a towline.

    Who so layeth lines for to latch fowls.
    --Piers Plowman.

  2. A more or less threadlike mark of pen, pencil, or graver; any long mark; as, a chalk line.

  3. The course followed by anything in motion; hence, a road or route; as, the arrow descended in a curved line; the place is remote from lines of travel.

  4. Direction; as, the line of sight or vision.

  5. A row of letters, words, etc., written or printed; esp., a row of words extending across a page or column.

  6. A short letter; a note; as, a line from a friend.

  7. (Poet.) A verse, or the words which form a certain number of feet, according to the measure.

    In the preceding line Ulysses speaks of Nausicaa.
    --Broome.

  8. Course of conduct, thought, occupation, or policy; method of argument; department of industry, trade, or intellectual activity.

    He is uncommonly powerful in his own line, but it is not the line of a first-rate man.
    --Coleridge.

  9. (Math.) That which has length, but not breadth or thickness.

  10. The exterior limit of a figure, plat, or territory; boundary; contour; outline.

    Eden stretched her line From Auran eastward to the royal towers Of great Seleucia.
    --Milton.

  11. A threadlike crease marking the face or the hand; hence, characteristic mark.

    Though on his brow were graven lines austere.
    --Byron.

    He tipples palmistry, and dines On all her fortune-telling lines.
    --Cleveland.

  12. Lineament; feature; figure. ``The lines of my boy's face.''
    --Shak.

  13. A straight row; a continued series or rank; as, a line of houses, or of soldiers; a line of barriers.

    Unite thy forces and attack their lines.
    --Dryden.

  14. A series or succession of ancestors or descendants of a given person; a family or race; as, the ascending or descending line; the line of descent; the male line; a line of kings.

    Of his lineage am I, and his offspring By very line, as of the stock real.
    --Chaucer.

  15. A connected series of public conveyances, and hence, an established arrangement for forwarding merchandise, etc.; as, a line of stages; an express line.

  16. (Geog.)

    1. A circle of latitude or of longitude, as represented on a map.

    2. The equator; -- usually called the line, or equinoctial line; as, to cross the line.

  17. A long tape, or a narrow ribbon of steel, etc., marked with subdivisions, as feet and inches, for measuring; a tapeline.

  18. (Script.)

    1. A measuring line or cord.

      He marketh it out with a line.
      --Is. xliv. 13.

    2. That which was measured by a line, as a field or any piece of land set apart; hence, allotted place of abode.

      The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
      --Ps. xvi. 6.

    3. Instruction; doctrine.

      Their line is gone out through all the earth.
      --Ps. xix. 4.

  19. (Mach.) The proper relative position or adjustment of parts, not as to design or proportion, but with reference to smooth working; as, the engine is in line or out of line.

  20. The track and roadbed of a railway; railroad.

  21. (Mil.)

    1. A row of men who are abreast of one another, whether side by side or some distance apart; -- opposed to column.

    2. The regular infantry of an army, as distinguished from militia, guards, volunteer corps, cavalry, artillery, etc.

  22. (Fort.)

    1. A trench or rampart.

    2. pl. Dispositions made to cover extended positions, and presenting a front in but one direction to an enemy.

  23. pl. (Shipbuilding) Form of a vessel as shown by the outlines of vertical, horizontal, and oblique sections.

  24. (Mus.) One of the straight horizontal and parallel prolonged strokes on and between which the notes are placed.

  25. (Stock Exchange) A number of shares taken by a jobber.

  26. (Trade) A series of various qualities and values of the same general class of articles; as, a full line of hosiery; a line of merinos, etc.
    --McElrath.

  27. The wire connecting one telegraphic station with another, or the whole of a system of telegraph wires under one management and name.

  28. pl. The reins with which a horse is guided by his driver.

  29. A measure of length; one twelfth of an inch. Hard lines, hard lot. --C. Kingsley. [See Def. 18.] Line breeding (Stockbreeding), breeding by a certain family line of descent, especially in the selection of the dam or mother. Line conch (Zo["o]l.), a spiral marine shell ( Fasciolaria distans), of Florida and the West Indies. It is marked by narrow, dark, revolving lines. Line engraving.

    1. Engraving in which the effects are produced by lines of different width and closeness, cut with the burin upon copper or similar material; also, a plate so engraved.

    2. A picture produced by printing from such an engraving. Line of battle.

      1. (Mil. Tactics) The position of troops drawn up in their usual order without any determined maneuver.

      2. (Naval) The line or arrangement formed by vessels of war in an engagement. Line of battle ship. See Ship of the line, below. Line of beauty (Fine Arts),an abstract line supposed to be beautiful in itself and absolutely; -- differently represented by different authors, often as a kind of elongated S (like the one drawn by Hogarth). Line of centers. (Mach.)

        1. A line joining two centers, or fulcra, as of wheels or levers.

        2. A line which determines a dead center. See Dead center, under Dead. Line of dip (Geol.), a line in the plane of a stratum, or part of a stratum, perpendicular to its intersection with a horizontal plane; the line of greatest inclination of a stratum to the horizon. Line of fire (Mil.), the direction of fire. Line of force (Physics), any line in a space in which forces are acting, so drawn that at every point of the line its tangent is the direction of the resultant of all the forces. It cuts at right angles every equipotential surface which it meets. Specifically (Magnetism), a line in proximity to a magnet so drawn that any point in it is tangential with the direction of a short compass needle held at that point. --Faraday. Line of life (Palmistry), a line on the inside of the hand, curving about the base of the thumb, supposed to indicate, by its form or position, the length of a person's life. Line of lines. See Gunter's line. Line of march. (Mil.)

          1. Arrangement of troops for marching.

          2. Course or direction taken by an army or body of troops in marching. Line of operations, that portion of a theater of war which an army passes over in attaining its object. --H. W. Halleck. Line of sight (Firearms), the line which passes through the front and rear sight, at any elevation, when they are sighted at an object. Line tub (Naut.), a tub in which the line carried by a whaleboat is coiled. Mason and Dixon's line, Mason-Dixon line, the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, as run before the Revolution (1764-1767) by two English astronomers named Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon. In an extended sense, the line between the free and the slave States; as, below the Mason-Dixon line, i.e. in the South. On the line,

            1. on a level with the eye of the spectator; -- said of a picture, as hung in an exhibition of pictures.

            2. at risk (dependent upon success) in a contest or enterprise; as, the survival of the company is on the line in this project.

              Right line, a straight line; the shortest line that can be drawn between two points.

              Ship of the line, formerly, a ship of war large enough to have a place in the line of battle; a vessel superior to a frigate; usually, a seventy-four, or three-decker; -- called also line of battle ship or battleship.
              --Totten.

              To cross the line, to cross the equator, as a vessel at sea.

              To give a person line, to allow him more or less liberty until it is convenient to stop or check him, like a hooked fish that swims away with the line.

              Water line (Shipbuilding), the outline of a horizontal section of a vessel, as when floating in the water.

Wiktionary
line of fire

n. (context military English) The direction of weapons fire.

WordNet
line of fire

n. the path of a missile discharged from a firearm

Wikipedia
Line of Fire (2003 TV series)

Line of Fire is a crime drama television series that was broadcast on ABC for 11 episodes in the winter of 2003-2004. It starred Leslie Bibb and Jeffrey D. Sams.

The show was canceled after just 11 episodes in June 2004, though 13 episodes in all were produced.

The Parents Television Council took a clip from the series for their TV's Worst Clips from years 2001 to 2004. The clip used depicted graphic sexuality.

Line of Fire (novel)

Line of Fire is a thriller novel by Donald Hamilton.

Line of Fire (video game)

Line of Fire is a shooting video game, played from a first person perspective, and developed by Sega. The cabinet features two positional guns, and a design which allows the player(s) to sit down while playing the game. It was first released in arcades in 1989 before being converted to home computers and published by U.S. Gold in 1990. It was released on the Sega Master System in 1991; however, the style of the game was changed to that of an overhead scrolling shooter.

It follows a two-man commando unit as they try to escape from a terrorist facility after seizing a prototype weapon. The arcade game was praised for its graphics but criticised for lacking drama, and the home computer versions were criticized for "blocky" visuals, though reviewers found that there were some nice touches. The Sega Master System version was seen as disappointing.

Line of Fire (2002 TV series)

Line of Fire is a film documentary produced by Cromwell Productions that shows historical battlefields presented in an animated environment.

Line of Fire

Line of Fire may refer to:

  • Line of Fire (2003 TV series), an American crime drama television series
  • Line of Fire (2002 TV series), a documentary TV series
  • Line of Fire (novel), a 1955 thriller novel by Donald Hamilton
  • Line of Fire (video game), a 1989 shoot 'em up video game
  • Line of Fire (song), 2008 song by E-Type & The Poodles
  • "Line of Fire", a song by Journey from the album Departure
  • "Line of Fire", a song by Junip from the album Junip
Line of Fire (song)

"Line of Fire" is a song performed by E-Type and The Poodles at Melodifestivalen 2008, participating in the first semifinal in Gothenburg. Ending up third, the song went further to Andra chansen ni Kiruna on 8 March 2008, participating against Sibel Redzep's That is Where I'll Go, ending up knocked out.

Usage examples of "line of fire".

Looking back, she could see that it had been, tactically, exactly the right thing to say to get Ruy out of her line of fire.

People all around them shrieked and started pushing one another in their efforts to get out of the line of fire.

People all around them shrieked and started pushing each other in their efforts to get out of the line of fire –.

With rage in his heart, his pistol in his grasp, and his nemesis in his clear line of fire, the only thing that stopped him from shooting Bardou in the back was the knowledge that the man might have other accomplices besides Ethan Stafford, who might still carry out his plot even if Bardou himself were killed.

He hadn't been able to fire when the wolf charged because Schultz was in his line of fire.

One thinly covered breast traced a line of fire across his chest as she leaned up and kissed him.

That she had deliberately stood less than a meter from him, holding him motionless to guarantee her chosen shooter a perfect shot and eliminate the possibility that a moving target might change her carefully planned trajectory and put someone else in the line of fire.