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- Dictionaryline/lʌɪn/
noun
- 1. a long, narrow mark or band: "a row of closely spaced dots will look like a continuous line" Similar dashrulebarscoreunderlineunderscorestrokeslashvirgulesolidusstripestripbandstreakbeltstriationtechnical:striaoblique
- ▪ a straight or curved continuous extent of length without breadth.
- ▪ a direct course: "the ball rose in a straight line" Similar courseroutetrackchannelpathwayruntrajectorybearingorientation
- ▪ a furrow or wrinkle in the skin, especially on the face: "there were new lines round her eyes and mouth" Similar wrinklefurrowcreasecrinklecrow's footgroovecorrugationscar
- ▪ a contour or outline considered as a feature of design or composition: "crisp architectural lines" Similar contouroutlineconfigurationshapefiguredelineationsilhouetteprofilefeatures
- ▪ (on a map or graph) a curve connecting all points having a specified common property.
- ▪ a line marking the starting or finishing point in a race: "a good position at the start line will put you in the front rank on the first leg"
- ▪ (in football, hockey, etc.) the goal line: "Dunne was on hand to bundle the ball over the line"
- ▪ the equator.
- ▪ a notional limit or boundary: "the issue of peace cut across class lines" Similar boundaryboundary linelimitborderborderlineboundbounding linefrontierpartitiondemarcation linedividing lineend pointcut-off pointterminationedgepalemarginperimeterperipheryrimextremityfringethreshold
- ▪ each of the very narrow horizontal sections forming a television picture.
- ▪ a narrow range of the spectrum that is noticeably brighter or darker than the adjacent parts.
- ▪ the level of the base of most letters, such as h and x, in printing and writing.
- ▪ denoting an image consisting of lines and solid areas, with no gradation of tone: "a line block"
- ▪ each of (usually five) horizontal lines forming a stave in musical notation.
- ▪ a sequence of notes or tones forming an instrumental or vocal melody: "a powerful melodic line"
- ▪ a dose of a powdered narcotic drug, especially cocaine, laid out in a line ready to be taken. informal
- 2. a length of cord, rope, wire, or other material serving a particular purpose: "Lily pegged the washing on the line" Similar cordropestringcablewirethreadtwinestrandfilamentligature
- ▪ a length of sterile tubing inserted into a vein or artery in order to provide temporary access, typically so as to administer fluids or withdraw blood: "he's having an op this morning to put a line in his chest for IV drugs"
- ▪ a telephone connection or service: "I've got Inspector Jackson on the line for you"
- ▪ a railway track: "passengers were hit by delays caused by leaves on the line"
- ▪ a branch or route of a railway system: "the Glasgow to London line"
- ▪ a company that provides ships, aircraft, or buses on particular routes on a regular basis: "a major shipping line"
- 3. a horizontal row of written or printed words: "take the cursor up one line and press the delete key"
- ▪ a part of a poem or song forming one row of written or printed words: "each stanza has eight lines" Similar sentencephrasegroup of wordsprosodic unitconstructionclauseutterancepassageextractquotationquotecitationsectionpiecepartsnippetsound bitefragmentportion
- ▪ the words of an actor's part in a play or film: "he couldn't seem to remember his lines and had to read his dialogue off boards" Similar wordsrolepartscriptspeechdialogue
- ▪ an amount of text or number of repetitions of a sentence written out as a school punishment: British "five hundred lines to anyone caught sneaking in before the bell!"
- 4. a row of people or things: "a line of altar boys proceeded down the aisle"
- ▪ a queue. North American
- ▪ a connected series of people following one another in time (used especially of several generations of a family): "we follow the history of a family through the male line" Similar ancestryfamilyparentagebirthdescentlineageextractionderivationheritagegenealogyrootshousedynastyoriginbackgroundstockstrainracebloodlinebloodbreedingpedigreesuccession
- ▪ a series of related things: "the bill is the latest in a long line of measures to protect society from criminals" Similar seriessequencesuccessionchainstringtrainprogressioncoursesetcycle
- ▪ a range of commercial goods: "the company intends to hire more people and expand its product line" Similar brandkindsorttypevarietymakelabeltrade nametrademarkregistered trademark
- 5. an area or branch of activity: "the stresses unique to their line of work" Similar line of workline of businessbusinessfieldtradeoccupationemploymentprofessionworkjobday jobcallingvocationcareerpursuitactivitywalk of lifespecialtyforteprovincedepartmentsphereareaarea of expertisedomainrealmmétierBritish:line of countryinformal:gamethingbagpigeonracket
- ▪ a direction, course, or channel: "he opened another line of attack" Similar course of actioncourseprocedureMOtechniquewaytactictacksystemmethodprocessmannerpolicypracticeschemeapproachplanprogrammepositionstancephilosophyargumentavenuemodus operandi
- ▪ a manner of doing or thinking about something: "you can't run a business on these lines" Similar course of actioncourseprocedureMOtechniquewaytactictacksystemmethodprocessmannerpolicypracticeschemeapproachplanprogrammepositionstancephilosophyargumentavenuemodus operandicoursedirectiondrifttacktendencytrendbiastenor
- ▪ an agreed approach; a policy: "the official line is that there were no chemical attacks on allied troops"
- ▪ a false or exaggerated remark or story: informal "he fed me a line about some nightclubbing Japanese photographer" Similar patterstorypitchpiece of fictionfabricationinformal:spiel
- 6. a connected series of military fieldworks or defences facing an enemy force: "raids behind enemy lines" Similar positionformationdispositionfrontfront linefiring linetrenches
- ▪ an arrangement of soldiers or ships in a column or line formation; a line of battle. Similar filerankcolumnstringchaintrainconvoyprocessionrowqueueinformal:crocodile
- ▪ regular army regiments (as opposed to auxiliary forces or household troops).
verb
Word Origin Old Englishlīne ‘rope, series’, probably of Germanic origin, from Latin linea (fibra) ‘flax (fibre)’, from Latin linum ‘flax’, reinforced in Middle English by Old French ligne, based on Latin linea.
Scrabble Points: 4
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