A-line

Having a fitted top and a flared bottom: an A-line dress.

[From garments being shaped like a capital A.]

(1) A communications channel. See line card and port.

(2) In text-based systems, a row of characters.

A boundary; demarcation.

n. 1. a length of cord, rope, wire, or other material serving a particular purpose: wring the clothes and hang them on the line | a telephone line.

2. a telephone connection: we've got headquarters on the line.

3. a direction, course, or channel: lines of communication | he opened another line of attack.

4. a connected series of military fieldworks or defenses facing an enemy force: raids behind enemy lines.

5. an arrangement of soldiers or ships in a column or line formation; a line of battle.

6. (the line) regular army regiments (as opposed to auxiliary forces or household troops).

in the line of duty while one is working (used mainly of police officers, firefighters, or soldiers).

line of fire the expected path of gunfire or a missile:

line of flight the route taken through the air.

line of march the route taken in marching.

line of sight a straight line along which an observer has unobstructed vision: a building that obstructs our line of sight.

line up

1. arrange a number of people or things in a straight row.

2. (of a number of people or things) be arranged in this way: we would line up across the parade ground.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

length UK trad ¹/₁₂ in = 2.116 7~ mm; elsewhere sometimes ¹/₁₀ inch.

In Geographic Information Systems, a line segment with common attributes. By comparison with a link, a line may have intersections.

Narrow ridge, less prominent than a crest, which runs along the shaft of a bone. It is a site of muscle attachment.