subs. (colloquial).—A calling; a profession; a LAY (q.v.).
1655. FULLER, The Church History of Britain, II. ix. 23. If I chance to make an excursion into the matters of the Commonwealth, it is not out of curiosity, or busy-bodinesse, to be medling in other men’s LINES.
1803. KENNEY, Raising the Wind, i. 1. Waiter. … The fellow lives by spunging,—gets into people’s houses by his songs and his bon mots. At some of the squires’ tables, he’s as constant a guest as the parson or the apothecary. Sam. Come, that’s an odd LINE to go into however.
1836. DICKENS, Sketches by Boz, 41. The man in the shop, perhaps is in the baked ‘jemmy’ LINE, or the firewood and hearth-stone LINE, or any other LINE which requires a floating capital of eighteen-pence or thereabouts.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xxiv. Our first try on in the coach LINE was with the Goulburn mail.
1891. N. GOULD, The Double Event, 177. It’s out of my LINE.
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, 52. Halpine Club bizness is oko, and not in my LINE.
2. (common).—A hoax; a fool-trap.
3. In pl. (colloquial).—A marriage certificate.
1847. W. T. THOMPSON, Chronicles of Pineville, 64. One of the women, not the one who held the LINES.
18[?]. Fast Life; an Autobiography, p. 170. Those good-natured ladies who never had their LINES.
1862. THACKERAY, The Adventures of Philip, XII. ‘How should a child like you know that the marriage was irregular?’ ‘Because I had no LINES,’ cries Caroline.
4. In pl. (common).—Reins; RIBBONS (q.v.).
1852. BRISTED, The Upper Ten Thousand, 66–7. Handing the LINES to Ashburner, as he stopped his team, Masters leaped out, pulled a hitching-strap from under the seat, and fastened his off-horse very neatly to a lamp-post.
ON THE LINE, subs. phr. (common).—Hung on the line at the Royal Academy.
1865. Fortnightly Review, ii. p. 28. Every picture should be hung at that height which in the Royal Academy Exhibition is known as THE LINE.
Verb. (venery).—1. Properly, to impregnate a bitch; hence, to copulate. For synonyms, see GREENS and RIDE.
1601. HOLLAND, Pliny, VIII. ch. XI. The Indians take great pleasure to have their salt bitches LINED with tigres.
1725. N. BAILEY, trans. The Colloquies of Erasmus, II. 160. He would with the utmost diligence look for a dog that was on all accounts of a good breed, to LINE her, that he might not have a litter of mongrels.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
2. (colloquial).—To fill: as TO LINE ONE’S STOMACH = to eat; TO LINE ONE’S POCKETS = to take money.
1837. DICKENS, Oliver Twist, 43. ‘A couple of pocket-books,’ replied that young gentleman. ‘LINED?’ enquired the Jew.
A LINE OF THE OLD AUTHOR, subs. phr. (old).—A dram of brandy. For synonyms, see GO.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1819. J. H. VAUX, Memoirs, s.v. LINE. To GET a person IN A LINE, or IN A STRING, is to engage them in a conversation, while your confederate is robbing their person or premises; to banter or jest with a man by amusing him with false assurances or professions, is also termed stringing him, or getting him in tow; to keep any body in suspense on any subject without coming to a decision, is called keeping him in tow, in a string, or in A TOW-LINE. To CUT THE LINE, or the string, is to put an end to the suspense in which you have kept any one, by telling him the plain truth, coming to a final decision, &c. A person, who has been telling another a long story, until he is tired, or conceives his auditor has been all the while secretly laughing at him, will say at last, I’ve just dropped down, you’ve had me in a fine string, I think it’s time to cut it. On the other hand, the auditor, having the same opinion on his part, would say, Come, I believe you want to string me all night, I wish you’d cut it; meaning, conclude the story at once.
TO LINE ONE’S JACKET. See JACKET.
THE DEVIL’S REGIMENT OF THE LINE, subs. phr. (common).—Felons; convicts; THE POLICE-VAN CORPS.
