line sb.1 (1 metaphor from angling; 7 only S.)
1.
“give ,” allow full
play or scope Wint. I. ii.
181, 2H4 IV. iv. 39; so
“with full line”
Meas. I. iv. 56.
2.
“by and level,” by
means of instruments used for determining exactly
vertical and horizontal position, (hence fig.) with
methodical accuracy Tp. IV. i.
241, 245
3.
“line of life,” (in
palmistry) the line on the hand which is supposed to
indicate the nature or duration of one's life Mer.V. II. ii. 176
[169].
4.
“under the line,” at the
equator Tp. IV. i. 239
(punningly), H8 V. iv. 45 (with
allusion to the heat).
5.
contour, lineament
All'sW. V. iii. 49,
Wint. I. ii. 154
“the l-s Of my boy's
face,”
Cym. IV. i. 10
“the l-s of my
body,”
Sonn. xvi. 9
“the l-s of life”
(=living features).
6.
degree, station 1H4 I. iii. 168, III. ii. 85.
7.
pl. goings-on,
caprices or fits of temper
Wiv. IV. ii. 22
“your husband is in his
old l-s again,”
Troil. II. iii. 140
“His pettish l-s”
; mod. edd. “lunes”†. ∥ Perhaps to be
connected with the mod. Warwickshire ‘on a
line’=in a rage.
