Middle English Dictionary Entry

līne n.(1)
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Entry Info

Forms līne n.(1) Also lin, liene, (error) lime & ligne, lingne; pl. lin(e)s, etc. & linen.
Etymology OE līne (from L) & L līnea & OF ligne, lingne.

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

Note: To sense 9., cp. line n.(2).
1.
(a) A cord or rope; a leash, sounding line, etc.; drauen bi o ~, to pull on the same rope, pull together; ~ wie, a towpath; (b) a fishline; also fig.; hok and ~, etc.; ground ~ [see ground 15.]; (c) a cord set as a snare for birds; (d) material from which to cut a cord or rope.
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2.
(a) A builder's or mason's line for keeping walls straight, joints even, etc.; also fig.; bi ~, straight, even, evenly; (b) a measuring line or cord; bi ~, in ~, as measured by a measuring line; (c) a plumb line.
Show 24 Quotations
3.
(a) A rule, principle, order; bi ~, rightly, justly, fairly; also, in order, in succession [quot.: Pearl]; -- often indistinguishable from fig. uses under 2. (a); (b) a course of conduct.
Show 8 Quotations
4.
(a) A line drawn, carved, or scratched on a surface; also, a long, thin mark produced in another way; (b) in palmistry: any of the significant lines in the palm of the hand; (c) a line of demarcation; a boundary line; (d) an outline, a contour; (e) a layer.
Show 25 Quotations
5.
(a) A line of writing; also, a line of poetry; ~ bi ~, one line below another; also, line corresponding to line [quot.: a1456]; (b) fig. a line in speech, an oral unit comparable to a written line; (c) a written record, history, story; also, a book of prophecy; also, a letter.
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6.
Math. A line in geometry.
Show 6 Quotations
7.
Astron. (a) An imaginary line in the sky; imagined ~; e)cliptik ~, ~ ecliptik (ecleptica), the ecliptic; equinoxial ~, ~ equinoxial, the celestial equator; ~ meridional, ~ of middai, a celestial meridian; of the same ~, lying under the same celestial latitude; (b) a line drawn on an astronomical instrument to represent an astronomical line; diametral ~, a radial line on the equatory of planets; ecliptik ~, a line on an astrolabe corresponding to the celestial ecliptic; est ~, ~ orientale, the left half of the horizontal line bisecting an astrolabe, the line representing the eastern half of the celestial horizon; ~ alhudda, a line on the equatory of planets; cp. south ~; ~ of the aux, the line of apogee of a planet or sign, apse line; midnight ~, a line of the equatory of planets; cp. north ~; north ~, midnight ~, ~ of midnight, the lower half of the vertical line bisecting an astrolabe (= a line from the center of the earth to the nadir); south ~, ~ of middai, ~ meridional, meridional ~, the upper half of the vertical line of the astrolabe (= a line from the center of the earth to the zenith); west ~, ~ occidentale, the right half of the horizontal line of an astrolabe (= the western half of the celestial horizon).
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8.
(a) An imaginary straight line; (b) aright as ~, as streight as ~, even as (a) ~, even bi ~, right as (a, ani) ~, in a straight line, straight, directly; in the right ~ of, ?directly in line with (sth.); linked ~, in a continuous line; plein as ~, smooth as a line; right as lines, straight as lines; right up as a ~, perfectly upright; streight as a ~, perfectly straight; ~ right, right ~, adv. q.v.
Show 28 Quotations
9.
(a) Lineage, descent; also, the right to inherit or succeed through lineage; bi (right, verrai) ~, by (direct) descent; out of ~, illegitimate; also, outside the royal family; lines man, one from whom legitimate kings are or would be descended; (b) a line of blood relationship; (c) offspring, posterity; also, the royal line of a kingdom; (d) family, tribe; (e) a class of persons or things; (f) a descendant, child, an offspring.
Show 49 Quotations

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • c1475(c1450) ?Scrope Mirror World (Bod 283) 9153 : Liche the maister of werkys..hee maketh alle with poynte and with ligne and with rewle and with leede and with the lityl ligne.
  • c1475(c1450) ?Scrope Mirror World (Bod 283) 9161 : Hee provith ofte his werke with a litil lyne and lede, for hee taketh heede that his toure hyngeth neyther on the right syde ne of the lefte.
Note: New sense, new cpd. Ed.: "lityl ligne: 'level' (French oeil)." i.e., presumably a so-called 'plumb level' or one of its variants.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Line features frequently as the second element of compounds, often of a mechanical or nautical nature (parts of rigging, etc.), as for example boue-line n. (q.v.); claspe lines (s.v. claspe n.); clokke ~ (s.v. clokke n.); clyet-line n. (q.v.); crane ~ (s.v. crane n.); fishing ~ (s.v. fishing ger.); getter-line n. (q.v.); halier ~ (s.v. halier n. [i.e. 'halyard']; hed ~ (s.v. hed n.(1)); kippe-line n. (q.v.); lachet ~ (s.v. lachet n.); liche-line n. (q.v.); lorgh ~ (s.v. lorgh n.); masoun ~ (s.v. masoun n.); nokke ~ (s.v. nokke n.); plough ~ (s.v. plough n.); plum ~ (s.v. plum n.); ratheling ~ (s.v. ratheling ger.); reveling-line n. (q.v.); sounding ~ (s.v. sounding ger.); thurgh-line n. (q.v.); trepeget ~ (s.v. trepeget n.); trusse ~ (s.v. trusse n.); twist ~ (s.v. twist n.); vlet ~ (s.v. vlet n.); war-line n. (q.v.).

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