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

An eight-length win in the Arkansas Derby in April made him the favorite at Churchill Downs, and he justified the faith by breaking clean out of the 18th position, stalking the lead, then gunning from his position five-wide to run down Firing Line on the homestretch for a one-length win.

From Washington Post

To order a copy for £10.39, with free UK p&p, click here or call 0330 333 6846 "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

"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

Such an assurance had already been given the Commissioner for the British Red Cross, on the part of Mr Norton and Colonel Barry, with their arrival at Boulogne, where that body cordially welcomed them, and whence in fact, on its request, a four-stretcher-car, with its American owner and another of our Volunteers in charge, proceeded to work for a fortnight, night and day, along the firing line on the Belgian frontier.

From Project Gutenberg

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 Project Gutenberg