clothesline
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of clothesline
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In even a light breeze the polyester billows, like a bedsheet on a clothesline, providing enough shade for a family.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 23, 2026
After waters rapidly rose in West Sumatra and submerged his home, Meri Osman said he was "swept away by the current" and clung onto a clothesline until he was rescued.
From BBC • Nov. 29, 2025
Inside the Airbnb, he was surprised to find a clothesline instead of a dryer.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 30, 2025
“One of the things I did to myself is I didn't want the joke attached to time. If time was like a clothesline, I wanted to do it for as long as ever.”
From Salon • May 22, 2024
To prevent burglars and vandals from breaking in, we’d hang laundry on the clothesline and put dirty dishes in the sink.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
