Word.ws English Dictionary

gives someone line

gives someone line is the third-person singular simple present indicative of give someone line.

Meaning of give someone line

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)

  1. 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
  2. (dated, idiomatic) To allow a person more or less liberty until it is convenient to stop or check him/her.

Questions about gives someone line

What is gives someone line the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Gives someone line is the third-person singular simple present indicative of give someone line.

Words near gives someone line in the dictionary

  1. gives someone hell
  2. gives someone his gruel
  3. gives someone his hat
  4. gives someone Jesse
  5. gives someone Jessie
  6. gives someone line
  7. gives someone one
  8. gives someone something to think about
  9. gives someone the air
  10. gives someone the arm
  11. gives someone the bag

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gives someone line (page history and authors); 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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