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line breeding
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English Dictionary: line breeding by the DICT Development Group
1 result for line breeding
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Line \Line\, n. [OE. line, AS. l[c6]ne cable, hawser, prob. from
      L. linea a linen thread, string, line, fr. linum flax,
      thread, linen, cable; but the English word was influenced by
      F. ligne line, from the same L. word linea. See {Linen}.]
      1. A linen thread or string; a slender, strong cord; also, a
            cord of any thickness; a rope; a hawser; as, a fishing
            line; a line for snaring birds; a clothesline; a towline.
  
                     Who so layeth lines for to latch fowls. --Piers
                                                                              Plowman.
  
      2. A more or less threadlike mark of pen, pencil, or graver;
            any long mark; as, a chalk line.
  
      3. The course followed by anything in motion; hence, a road
            or route; as, the arrow descended in a curved line; the
            place is remote from lines of travel.
  
      4. Direction; as, the line of sight or vision.
  
      5. A row of letters, words, etc., written or printed; esp., a
            row of words extending across a page or column.
  
      6. A short letter; a note; as, a line from a friend.
  
      7. (Poet.) A verse, or the words which form a certain number
            of feet, according to the measure.
  
                     In the preceding line Ulysses speaks of Nausicaa.
                                                                              --Broome.
  
      8. Course of conduct, thought, occupation, or policy; method
            of argument; department of industry, trade, or
            intellectual activity.
  
                     He is uncommonly powerful in his own line, but it is
                     not the line of a first-rate man.      --Coleridge.
  
      9. (Math.) That which has length, but not breadth or
            thickness.
  
      10. The exterior limit of a figure, plat, or territory;
            boundary; contour; outline.
  
                     Eden stretched her line From Auran eastward to the
                     royal towers Of great Seleucia.         --Milton.
  
      11. A threadlike crease marking the face or the hand; hence,
            characteristic mark.
  
                     Though on his brow were graven lines austere.
                                                                              --Byron.
  
                     He tipples palmistry, and dines On all her
                     fortune-telling lines.                     --Cleveland.
  
      12. Lineament; feature; figure. [bd]The lines of my boy's
            face.[b8] --Shak.
  
      13. A straight row; a continued series or rank; as, a line of
            houses, or of soldiers; a line of barriers.
  
                     Unite thy forces and attack their lines. --Dryden.
  
      14. A series or succession of ancestors or descendants of a
            given person; a family or race; as, the ascending or
            descending line; the line of descent; the male line; a
            line of kings.
  
                     Of his lineage am I, and his offspring By very
                     line, as of the stock real.               --Chaucer.
  
      15. A connected series of public conveyances, and hence, an
            established arrangement for forwarding merchandise, etc.;
            as, a line of stages; an express line.
  
      16. (Geog.)
            (a) A circle of latitude or of longitude, as represented
                  on a map.
            (b) The equator; -- usually called {the line}, or
                  {equinoctial line}; as, to cross the line.
  
      17. A long tape, or a narrow ribbon of steel, etc., marked
            with subdivisions, as feet and inches, for measuring; a
            tapeline.
  
      18. (Script.)
            (a) A measuring line or cord.
  
                           He marketh it out with a line.   --Is. xliv.
                                                                              13.
            (b) That which was measured by a line, as a field or any
                  piece of land set apart; hence, allotted place of
                  abode.
  
                           The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant
                           places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. --Ps.
                                                                              xvi. 6.
            (c) Instruction; doctrine.
  
                           Their line is gone out through all the earth.
                                                                              --Ps. xix. 4.
  
      19. (Mach.) The proper relative position or adjustment of
            parts, not as to design or proportion, but with reference
            to smooth working; as, the engine is in line or out of
            line.
  
      20. The track and roadbed of a railway; railroad.
  
      21. (Mil.)
            (a) A row of men who are abreast of one another, whether
                  side by side or some distance apart; -- opposed to
                  {column}.
            (b) The regular infantry of an army, as distinguished
                  from militia, guards, volunteer corps, cavalry,
                  artillery, etc.
  
      22. (Fort.)
            (a) A trench or rampart.
            (b) pl. Dispositions made to cover extended positions,
                  and presenting a front in but one direction to an
                  enemy.
  
      23. pl. (Shipbuilding) Form of a vessel as shown by the
            outlines of vertical, horizontal, and oblique sections.
  
      24. (Mus.) One of the straight horizontal and parallel
            prolonged strokes on and between which the notes are
            placed.
  
      25. (Stock Exchange) A number of shares taken by a jobber.
  
      26. (Trade) A series of various qualities and values of the
            same general class of articles; as, a full line of
            hosiery; a line of merinos, etc. --McElrath.
  
      27. The wire connecting one telegraphic station with another,
            or the whole of a system of telegraph wires under one
            management and name.
  
      28. pl. The reins with which a horse is guided by his driver.
            [U. S.]
  
      29. A measure of length; one twelfth of an inch.
  
      {Hard lines}, hard lot. --C. Kingsley. [See Def. 18.]
  
      {Line breeding} (Stockbreeding), breeding by a certain family
            line of descent, especially in the selection of the dam or
            mother.
  
      {Line conch} (Zo[94]l.), a spiral marine shell ({Fasciolaria
            distans}), of Florida and the West Indies. It is marked by
            narrow, dark, revolving lines.
  
      {Line engraving}.
            (a) Engraving in which the effects are produced by lines
                  of different width and closeness, cut with the burin
                  upon copper or similar material; also, a plate so
                  engraved.
            (b) A picture produced by printing from such an
                  engraving.
  
      {Line of battle}.
            (a) (Mil. Tactics) The position of troops drawn up in
                  their usual order without any determined maneuver.
            (b) (Naval) The line or arrangement formed by vessels of
                  war in an engagement.
  
      {Line of battle ship}. See {Ship of the line}, below.
  
      {Line of beauty} (Fine Arts),an abstract line supposed to be
            beautiful in itself and absolutely; -- differently
            represented by different authors, often as a kind of
            elongated S (like the one drawn by Hogarth).
  
      {Line of centers}. (Mach.)
            (a) A line joining two centers, or fulcra, as of wheels
                  or levers.
            (b) A line which determines a dead center. See {Dead
                  center}, under {Dead}.
  
      {Line of dip} (Geol.), a line in the plane of a stratum, or
            part of a stratum, perpendicular to its intersection with
            a horizontal plane; the line of greatest inclination of a
            stratum to the horizon.
  
      {Line of fire} (Mil.), the direction of fire.
  
      {Line of force} (Physics), any line in a space in which
            forces are acting, so drawn that at every point of the
            line its tangent is the direction of the resultant of all
            the forces. It cuts at right angles every equipotential
            surface which it meets. Specifically (Magnetism), a line
            in proximity to a magnet so drawn that any point in it is
            tangential with the direction of a short compass needle
            held at that point. --Faraday.
  
      {Line of life} (Palmistry), a line on the inside of the hand,
            curving about the base of the thumb, supposed to indicate,
            by its form or position, the length of a person's life.
  
      {Line of lines}. See {Gunter's line}.
  
      {Line of march}. (Mil.)
            (a) Arrangement of troops for marching.
            (b) Course or direction taken by an army or body of
                  troops in marching.
  
      {Line of operations}, that portion of a theater of war which
            an army passes over in attaining its object. --H. W.
            Halleck.
  
      {Line of sight} (Firearms), the line which passes through the
            front and rear sight, at any elevation, when they are
            sighted at an object.
  
      {Line tub} (Naut.), a tub in which the line carried by a
            whaleboat is coiled.
  
      {Mason and Dixon's line}
No guarantee of accuracy or completeness!
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