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Line

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Trade, business.

What line are you in? What trade or profession are you of? “In the book line”—i.e. the book trade. This is a Scripture phrase. “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage.” The allusion is to drawing a line to mark out the lot of each tribe, hence line became the synonym of lot, and lot means position or destiny; and hence a calling, trade, or profession. Commercial travellers use the word frequently to signify the sort of goods which they have to dispose of; as, one travels “in the hardware line,” another “in the drapery line,” or “grocery line,” etc.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Lina
Lincoln
Lincoln College (Oxford)
Lincoln Green
Lincoln’s Inn
Lincoln’s Inn Fields
Lincolnshire Bagpipes
Lindabridēs
Linden Tree (A)
Lindor
Line
Line (The)
Line a Day (A)
Line of Battle
Line of Beauty
Line of Communication, or rather Lines of Communication
Line of Demarcation
Line of Direction
Line of Life (The)
Line of March
Line of Operation (The)

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Nulla Linea