give someone line
give someone line verb: to unreel more fishing line so that a hooked fish has more freedom to tire itself out.
Verb
give someone line (third-person singular simple present gives someone line, present participle giving someone line, simple past gave someone line, past participle given someone line)
- To unreel more fishing line so that a hooked fish has more freedom to tire itself out.
- Give him LINE, boy (as the trout rushed down into the shallows); into the water, boy! the line's nearly run out; it's nowhere up to your knees. Watch him! draw the line up; gently! give him line; give him line—thought so! —I feared so, ' as the line, becoming entangled from drawing it up, snapped...1862, Cyril Thornton, Conyers Lea
- To allow a person more or less liberty until it is convenient to stop or check him/her.
Forms of give someone line
| third-person singular present | gives someone line |
|---|---|
| present participle | giving someone line |
| past | gave someone line |
| past participle | given someone line |
Origin of give someone line
Referring to the use of a fishing line.
Questions about give someone line
- What does give someone line mean?
- Give someone line means to unreel more fishing line so that a hooked fish has more freedom to tire itself out.
- What part of speech is give someone line?
- Give someone line is a verb.
- What is the past tense of give someone line?
- The past tense of give someone line is gave someone line.
Words near give someone line in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: give someone 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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