line
/laɪn/ noun, interjection, verb, proper noun
Forms lines lining lined lin lyne
- noun A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight. “The arrow descended in a curved line.”
- noun (geometry) An infinitely extending one-dimensional figure that has no curvature; one that has length but not breadth or thickness.
- noun (geometry, informal) A line segment; a continuous finite segment of such a figure.
- noun (graph theory) An edge of a graph.
- noun (geography) A circle of latitude or of longitude, as represented on a map.
- noun (geography, 'the line' or 'equinoctial line') The equator.
- noun (music) One of the straight horizontal and parallel prolonged strokes on and between which the notes are placed.
- noun (cricket) The horizontal path of a ball towards the batsman (see also length).
- interjection (acting) Expresses that the speaker has forgotten their dialogue and needs to be prompted with it.
- verb (transitive) To place (objects) into a line (usually used with "up"); to form into a line; to align. “to line troops”
- verb (transitive) To place persons or things along the side of for security or defense; to strengthen by adding; to fortify. “to line works with soldiers”
- verb (transitive) To form a line along.
- verb (transitive) To mark with a line or lines; to cover with lines. “to line a copy book”
- verb (rail transport) To align (one or more switches) to direct a train onto a particular track. “The dispatcher lined the switches at Pickle interlocking for the freight turnout to clear the train into the passing track before the express arrived.”
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To represent by lines; to delineate; to portray.
- verb (transitive, dated, now more often line out) To read or repeat line by line. “to line out a hymn”
- verb (intransitive, baseball) To hit a line drive; to hit a line drive which is caught for an out. Compare fly and ground. “Jones lined to left in his last at-bat.”
- noun (South Korean idol fandom) A group of people born in a certain year (liners). “maknae line; hyung line; 97 line”
- noun (obsolete) Flax, linen.
- noun The longer fiber(s) of flax.
Synonyms
straight line line segment epistle letter note lineup queue tail row line of engagement argumentation logical argument argument line of reasoning cable transmission line course wrinkle furrow crease crinkle seam pipeline railway line rail line telephone line phone line telephone circuit subscriber line lineage
Etymology
From Middle English line, lyne, from Old English līne (“line, cable, rope, hawser, series, row, rule, direction”), from Proto-West Germanic *līnā, from Proto-Germanic *līnǭ (“line, rope, flaxen cord, thread”), from Proto-Germanic *līną (“flax, linen”), from Proto-Indo-European *līno- (“flax”).
Influenced in Middle English by Middle French ligne (“line”), from Latin linea. More at linen.
The oldest sense of the word is “rope, cord, thread”; from this the senses “path”, “continuous mark” were derived.
Borrowed from Korean 라인 (rain, “members with a shared characteristic”), itself from English line. Likely generalized via hyung line, maknae line, etc.
From Old English līn (“flax, linen, cloth”). For more information, see the entry linen.
Borrowed from Middle French ligner.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Flax; linen. [Obs.] "Garments made of line." Spenser.
- noun The longer and fiber of flax.
- verb To cover the inner surface of; as, to line a cloak with silk or fur; to line a box with paper or tin. The inside lined with rich carnation silk. W. Browne.
- verb To put something in the inside of; to fill; to supply, as a purse with money.
Etymology [OE. lin. See Linen.]
Etymology [OE. line, AS. line 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.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “line”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details