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Lines

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The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. The part allotted to me and measured off by a measuring line. (Palms xvi. 6.)

Hard lines. Harsh restrictions. Here lines means an allotment measured out.

To read between the lines. To discern the secret meaning. One method of cryptography is to write in alternate lines; if read line by line, the meaning of the writer is reversed or wholly misunderstood. Thus lines 2, 4, 6 of the following cryptogram would convey the warning to Lord Monteagle of the Gunpowder Plot.

“My lord, having just returned from Paris,

(2) stay away from the house to-night

and give me the pleasure of your company.

(4) for God and man have concurred to punish

those who pay not regard to their health, and

(6) the wickedness of the time

adds greatly to its wear and tear.”

 

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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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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)
Line upon Line
Lines
Linen Goods
Lingo
Lingua Franca
Lining of the Pocket
Linnæan System
Linne (The Heir of)
Linsey-woolsy Million (The)
Linspe (French, 2 syl.)
Lion (as an agnomen)
Lion (as an emblem)

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Read between the Lines