firing line, on the

Idioms  

1. In the forefront of any activity or pursuit, especially a controversy. For example, At the sales conference they asked so many questions that Anne felt she was on the firing line. This expression originally meant the line of positions from which gunfire is directed at a target and is still so used in a military context. Today it is also used more loosely. [Late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

"To wipe out food miles, just swap one day’s red-meat eating a week to white meat": Jay Rayner puts himself in the firing line on the buying local argument.

From The Guardian • May 25, 2013

The remaining half of 'C' Company advanced, and, leaving sufficient space for the guns, took up their position in the firing line on the extreme right.

From With Kelly to Chitral by Beynon, William George Laurence

After a while a plank was found sufficiently long to bridge the water, and the men crossed to form a firing line on the other side.

From The Childrens' Story of the War, Volume 3 (of 10) by Parrott, James Edward

A priest serving as an Adjutant was superintending the digging of trenches close to the firing line on the Aisne.

From New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 2, May, 1915 April-September, 1915 by Various

The regiment formed firing line on the right of the Fourth Infantry, facing a Spanish fort or blockhouse about half a mile distant.

From The Colored Regulars in the United States Army by Steward, T. G. (Theophilus Gould)