top line—
1. the uppermost line of text:
- A special machine, an “interpreter,” can be used to read the cards and print their contents on the top line.
2. the head item on a bill of entertainment:
- His duets with Miss Muriel George have reached a top-line position on the halls.
3. headline of a newspaper:
- This big “top line” caught my eye: “The Pocasset filicide.”
4. said of the best or most important traded items:
- Our huge purchase includes many carloads of the top lines of merchandise.
up line —(Railroad) a single track of rails in a double line of railway (for trains traveling from left to right):
- The train was accordingly shunted on to the up line and proceeded back to town.
See also: bottom line / bottom of the line.