sb.
1. Anat. a. (trans. L. linea alba.) A longitudinal band of tendinous tissue extending from the sternum to the pubis. b. A whitish band in the pelvic fascia extending from the symphysis pubis to the spine of the ischium.
1598. Florio, Linéa abba [sic], the line or hollow tying from the nauell, the white line, the vmbelicall veine.
c. 1720. W. Gibson, Farrier’s Guide, I. ii. (1722), 6. The white Line … is … a tendinous Substance, form’d by the Endings of such of those Muscles as meet … in it.
1874. Heath, Anat. (ed. 3), 286. ‘White line’ of pelvic fascia.
2. Printing. A line left blank between two lines of type.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxiv. ¶ 7. That no Letters or Spaces lye in the White lines of the Form.
1770. Luckombe, Hist. Printing, 250. Open matter, with leads and white-lines between.
3. a. = BOBBIN sb.1 2. b. An untarred ‘line’ or rope (cf. WHITE a. 2 a, quots. 1769, 1846).
1824. J. F. Cooper, Pilot, xxvi. III. 35. ‘Bobbin, or white-line; they are the same thing,’ added the young trader.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., s.v. Line, White-line, that which has not been tarred.
4. attrib. or as adj. (with hyphen) = white-lined (see below).
1869. E. Newman, Brit. Moths, 330. The White line Dart (Agrotis Tritici)…. There is generally a sinuous line or interrupted series of linear spots parallel with the hind margin.
So White-line v., trans. to mark with white lines; so White-lined a.
1832. Rennie, Butterfl. & M., Index 285/1. White-lined Black.
1916. Blackw. Mag., Oct., 478/1. Rolled and white-lined for the game [of tennis].
