get a line on

1. Also, have a line on. Acquire information about something or someone, come to know. For example, Sue got a line on some possible tennis partners, or The realtor has a line on a number of vacant apartments. Similarly, give someone a line on means “provide information about,” as in The librarian gave me a line on the books I would need. This idiom uses line in the sense of “a direct course.” [c. 1900] Also see get a fix on.

Example Sentences

And in Texas, Mr. Kennedy will need about 81,000 people to participate in precinct conventions in order for his party to get a line on the general-election ballot.

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“I think people just kept thinking about the box-office hits as if that was an easy way to get a line on predictions.”

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The state is trying to get a line on where new investments in mental-health care should be made and how they can be managed.

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“The coast was all blacked out so the U-boats couldn’t get a line on us,” he said.

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In the vast majority of states an independent party must not only win a certain number of votes to get a line on the ballot but must nominate its own candidate.

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