from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Line \Line\, n. [OE. line, AS. l[imac]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.
[1913 Webster]
Who so layeth lines for to latch fowls. --Piers
Plowman.
[1913 Webster]
2. A more or less threadlike mark of pen, pencil, or graver;
any long mark; as, a chalk line.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
4. Direction; as, the line of sight or vision.
[1913 Webster]
5. A row of letters, words, etc., written or printed; esp., a
row of words extending across a page or column.
[1913 Webster]
6. A short letter; a note; as, a line from a friend.
[1913 Webster]
7. (Poet.) A verse, or the words which form a certain number
of feet, according to the measure.
[1913 Webster]
In the preceding line Ulysses speaks of Nausicaa.
--Broome.
[1913 Webster]
8. Course of conduct, thought, occupation, or policy; method
of argument; department of industry, trade, or
intellectual activity.
[1913 Webster]
He is uncommonly powerful in his own line, but it is
not the line of a first-rate man. --Coleridge.
[1913 Webster]
9. (Math.) That which has length, but not breadth or
thickness.
[1913 Webster]
10. The exterior limit of a figure, plat, or territory;
boundary; contour; outline.
[1913 Webster]
Eden stretched her line
From Auran eastward to the royal towers
Of great Seleucia. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
11. A threadlike crease marking the face or the hand; hence,
characteristic mark.
[1913 Webster]
Though on his brow were graven lines austere.
--Byron.
[1913 Webster]
He tipples palmistry, and dines
On all her fortune-telling lines. --Cleveland.
[1913 Webster]
12. Lineament; feature; figure. "The lines of my boy's face."
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
13. A straight row; a continued series or rank; as, a line of
houses, or of soldiers; a line of barriers.
[1913 Webster]
Unite thy forces and attack their lines. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
Of his lineage am I, and his offspring
By very line, as of the stock real. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
15. A connected series of public conveyances, and hence, an
established arrangement for forwarding merchandise, etc.;
as, a line of stages; an express line.
[1913 Webster]
16. (Geog.)
(a) A circle of latitude or of longitude, as represented
on a map.
(b) The equator; -- usually called the line, or
equinoctial line; as, to cross the line.
[1913 Webster]
17. A long tape, or a narrow ribbon of steel, etc., marked
with subdivisions, as feet and inches, for measuring; a
tapeline.
[1913 Webster]
18. (Script.)
(a) A measuring line or cord.
[1913 Webster]
He marketh it out with a line. --Is. xliv.
13.
(b) That which was measured by a line, as a field or any
piece of land set apart; hence, allotted place of
abode.
[1913 Webster]
The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant
places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. --Ps.
xvi. 6.
(c) Instruction; doctrine.
[1913 Webster]
Their line is gone out through all the earth.
--Ps. xix. 4.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
20. The track and roadbed of a railway; railroad.
[1913 Webster]
21. (Mil.)
(a) A row of men who are abreast of one another, whether
side by side or some distance apart; -- opposed to
{column}.
(b) The regular infantry of an army, as distinguished
from militia, guards, volunteer corps, cavalry,
artillery, etc.
[1913 Webster]
22. (Fort.)
(a) A trench or rampart.
(b) pl. Dispositions made to cover extended positions,
and presenting a front in but one direction to an
enemy.
[1913 Webster]
23. pl. (Shipbuilding) Form of a vessel as shown by the
outlines of vertical, horizontal, and oblique sections.
[1913 Webster]
24. (Mus.) One of the straight horizontal and parallel
prolonged strokes on and between which the notes are
placed.
[1913 Webster]
25. (Stock Exchange) A number of shares taken by a jobber.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
27. The wire connecting one telegraphic station with another,
or the whole of a system of telegraph wires under one
management and name.
[1913 Webster]
28. pl. The reins with which a horse is guided by his driver.
[U. S.]
[1913 Webster]
29. A measure of length; one twelfth of an inch.
[1913 Webster]
{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} (Zool.), a spiral marine shell ({Fasciolaria
distans}), of Florida and the West Indies. It is marked by
narrow, dark, revolving lines.
{Line engraving}.
(a) 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.
(b) A picture produced by printing from such an
engraving.
{Line of battle}.
(a) (Mil. Tactics) The position of troops drawn up in
their usual order without any determined maneuver.
(b) (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.)
(a) A line joining two centers, or fulcra, as of wheels
or levers.
(b) 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.)
(a) Arrangement of troops for marching.
(b) 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},
(a) on a level with the eye of the spectator; -- said of
a picture, as hung in an exhibition of pictures.
(b) 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.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Right \Right\ (r[imac]t), a. [OE. right, riht, AS. riht; akin to
D. regt, OS. & OHG. reht, G. recht, Dan. ret, Sw. r[aum]tt,
Icel. rettr, Goth. ra['i]hts, L. rectus, p. p. of regere to
guide, rule; cf. Skr. [.r]ju straight, right. [root]115. Cf.
{Adroit},{Alert}, {Correct}, {Dress}, {Regular}, {Rector},
{Recto}, {Rectum}, {Regent}, {Region}, {Realm}, {Rich},
{Royal}, {Rule}.]
1. Straight; direct; not crooked; as, a right line. "Right as
any line." --Chaucer
[1913 Webster]
2. Upright; erect from a base; having an upright axis; not
oblique; as, right ascension; a right pyramid or cone.
[1913 Webster]
3. Conformed to the constitution of man and the will of God,
or to justice and equity; not deviating from the true and
just; according with truth and duty; just; true.
[1913 Webster]
That which is conformable to the Supreme Rule is
absolutely right, and is called right simply without
relation to a special end. --Whately.
[1913 Webster]
2. Fit; suitable; proper; correct; becoming; as, the right
man in the right place; the right way from London to
Oxford.
[1913 Webster]
5. Characterized by reality or genuineness; real; actual; not
spurious. "His right wife." --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
In this battle, . . . the Britons never more plainly
manifested themselves to be right barbarians.
--Milton.
[1913 Webster]
6. According with truth; passing a true judgment; conforming
to fact or intent; not mistaken or wrong; not erroneous;
correct; as, this is the right faith.
[1913 Webster]
You are right, Justice, and you weigh this well.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
If there be no prospect beyond the grave, the
inference is . . . right, "Let us eat and drink, for
to-morrow we die." --Locke.
[1913 Webster]
7. Most favorable or convenient; fortunate.
[1913 Webster]
The lady has been disappointed on the right side.
--Spectator.
[1913 Webster]
8. Of or pertaining to that side of the body in man on which
the muscular action is usually stronger than on the other
side; -- opposed to left when used in reference to a part
of the body; as, the right side, hand, arm. Also applied
to the corresponding side of the lower animals.
[1913 Webster]
Became the sovereign's favorite, his right hand.
--Longfellow.
[1913 Webster]
Note: In designating the banks of a river, right and left are
used always with reference to the position of one who
is facing in the direction of the current's flow.
[1913 Webster]
9. Well placed, disposed, or adjusted; orderly; well
regulated; correctly done.
[1913 Webster]
10. Designed to be placed or worn outward; as, the right side
of a piece of cloth.
[1913 Webster]
{At right angles}, so as to form a right angle or right
angles, as when one line crosses another perpendicularly.
{Right and left}, in both or all directions. [Colloq.]
{Right and left coupling} (Pipe fitting), a coupling the
opposite ends of which are tapped for a right-handed screw
and a left-handed screw, respectivelly.
{Right angle}.
(a) The angle formed by one line meeting another
perpendicularly, as the angles ABD, DBC.
(b) (Spherics) A spherical angle included between the
axes of two great circles whose planes are
perpendicular to each other.
{Right ascension}. See under {Ascension}.
{Right Center} (Politics), those members belonging to the
Center in a legislative assembly who have sympathies with
the Right on political questions. See {Center}, n., 5.
{Right cone}, {Right cylinder}, {Right prism}, {Right
pyramid} (Geom.), a cone, cylinder, prism, or pyramid, the
axis of which is perpendicular to the base.
{Right line}. See under {Line}.
{Right sailing} (Naut.), sailing on one of the four cardinal
points, so as to alter a ship's latitude or its longitude,
but not both. --Ham. Nav. Encyc.
{Right sphere} (Astron. & Geol.), a sphere in such a position
that the equator cuts the horizon at right angles; in
spherical projections, that position of the sphere in
which the primitive plane coincides with the plane of the
equator.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Right is used elliptically for it is right, what you
say is right, true.
[1913 Webster]
"Right," cries his lordship. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Straight; direct; perpendicular; upright; lawful;
rightful; true; correct; just; equitable; proper;
suitable; becoming.
[1913 Webster]