lines

/ (laɪnz) /


pl n
  1. general appearance or outline: a car with fine lines

  2. a plan of procedure or construction: built on traditional lines

    • the spoken words of a theatrical presentation

    • the words of a particular role: he forgot his lines

  1. informal, mainly British a marriage certificate: marriage lines

  2. luck, fate, or fortune (esp in the phrase hard lines)

    • rows of tents, buildings, temporary stabling, etc, in a military camp: transport lines

    • a defensive position, row of trenches, or other fortification: we broke through the enemy lines

    • a school punishment of writing the same sentence or phrase out a specified number of times

    • the phrases or sentences so written out: a hundred lines

  3. read between the lines to understand or find an implicit meaning in addition to the obvious one

Words Nearby lines

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use lines in a sentence

  • Fully two miles away, on the south side of the ravine, were the sepoy lines, and another group of isolated bungalows.

    The Red Year | Louis Tracy
  • Some peculiar lines between these contracted brows gave a character of ferocity to this forbidding and sensual face.

    Checkmate | Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
  • He thus decoyed them away, and the fortunate couple were enabled to reach the British lines under cover of the darkness.

    The Red Year | Louis Tracy
  • Still, monsieur, I am willing to proceed upon the lines which would appear to be more agreeable to yourself.

    St. Martin's Summer | Rafael Sabatini
  • If we are to have a real education along lines of expression we must begin with the "content," or cause, of expression.

    Expressive Voice Culture | Jessie Eldridge Southwick