Word.ws English Dictionary

Davis Line

Davis Line proper noun: a boundary line, the centreline, the median line, in the middle of the Taiwan Strait, separating the (air) defence (control) zone of China from that of Taiwan.

Proper noun

the Davis Line

  1. A boundary line, the centreline, the median line, in the middle of the Taiwan Strait, separating the (air) defence (control) zone of China from that of Taiwan.
    • The line beyond which American pilots do not fly in the troubled Formosa Strait area is called the “Davis Line” in honor of Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., former commander of the 13th Provisional Air Force, stationed on Formosa[.] The mythical line is an undisclosed number of miles off the coast...1958 November 13, “Formosa ‘Battle Line’ Named After Gen. B. O. Davis”, in Jet, volume XV, number 2, Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, Foreign News, page 17
    • (3) Hostile aircraft may be considered to be committing hostile acts if flying east of "Davis Line" (an imaginary line running down the Taiwan Straits).
    • (4) Unknown aircraft west of Davis Line will be intercepted, identified and kept under surveillance if hostile intent is suspected and may be engaged when declared by the Commander of ATF 13 (P) or any of his three designated subordinates as being hostile.1966 December, M. H. Halperin, “The Prolonged Blockade: Reaction on Taiwan and in the Field”, in The 1958 Taiwan Straits Crisis: A Documented History, Santa Monica, Cali.: RAND Corporation, page 376

Examples of Davis Line in a sentence

  • The line beyond which American pilots do not fly in the troubled Formosa Strait area is called the “Davis Line” in honor of Brig.1958 November 13, “Formosa ‘Battle Line’ Named After Gen. B. O. Davis”, in Jet, volume XV, number 2, Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company...
  • U.S. combat air patrols were required to remain east of the "Davis Line," which ran approximately down the center of the Taiwan Strait.1988 December, Joseph Frederick Bouchard, “Naval Operations in Crises”, in Use of naval force in crises: A theory of stratified crisis...
  • Military experts say China has deliberately crossed the boundary — called the Davis Line by the US 7th Fleet which once patrolled the strait — for only the second time since 1949.1991 June 27, “Crossing the Line”, in Far Eastern Economic Review, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9, column 2:

Origin of Davis Line

1950s, named after Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. a United States Air Force (USAF) general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen who was commander of Air Task Force 13 (Provisional), Taipei, Taiwan (ROC).

Questions about Davis Line

What does Davis Line mean?
Davis Line means a boundary line, the centreline, the median line, in the middle of the Taiwan Strait, separating the (air) defence (control) zone of China from that of Taiwan.
How do you use Davis Line in a sentence?
The line beyond which American pilots do not fly in the troubled Formosa Strait area is called the “Davis Line” in honor of Brig.
What part of speech is Davis Line?
Davis Line is a proper noun.

Words near Davis Line in the dictionary

  1. Davis
  2. Davis County
  3. Davis Creek
  4. Davis Inlet
  5. Davis Junction
  6. Davis Line
  7. Davis Station
  8. Davis Strait
  9. Davis-Barnes effect
  10. Davis-Putnam algorithm
  11. Davises

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Davis Line (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Davis Line.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/davis_line. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.