line

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A long, thin mark on a surface.

   The doctor drew a line on the chart.

2. 2
   noun

   A long, thin piece of rope, cord, or wire.

   She hung the wet clothes on the washing line.

3. 3
   noun

   A boundary or distinction between two things.

   There is a narrow line between confidence and arrogance.

4. 4
   noun

   A type or range of products sold by a company.

   The company is launching a new line of shoes.

Common collocations

• straight line Adjective + noun
• draw a line Verb + noun
• form a line Verb + noun
• dotted line Adjective + noun
• hold the line Verb + noun
• line a street Verb + noun

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.

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