on line—
1. (U.S.) in a queue:
- Museums truly worth visiting are worth standing as New Yorkers say on line for.
2. in active service; operational:
- He lamented that at the current rate of progress there might be only two fast nuclear reactors on line by 2010.
3. connected to a computer network; available on the Internet:
- On-line education is now gradually complementing face-to-face education.
on the line—
1. in jeopardy; at stake:
- It was clear to the President that his credibility was on the line.
2. on the phone:
- “The Jimmy on the line wasn’t the Jimmy I knew,” Shenker recalled later.
3. said of an assembly line at a plant:
- Each worker on the line would do one task, then wait as the line brought the next car.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase on the lines—(also: along the lines) following a certain pattern or trend:
- Treatment will be given on the lines prescribed in this book.