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
(Zoöl.), 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, 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. -- On the line, on a level with the eye of the
spectator; -- said of a picture, as hung in an exhibition of pictures.
-- 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. 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.
<! p. 856 pr=VMG !>
Line (ln), v. t. 1. To mark with a line or lines; to cover with lines;
as, to line a copy book.
He had a healthy color in his cheeks, and his face, though lined,
bore few traces of anxiety.
Dickens.
2. To represent by lines; to delineate; to portray. [R.] "Pictures
fairest lined." Shak.