party line
[pahr-tee lahyn for 1, 2; pahr-tee lahyn for 3, 4]
- the authorized, prescribed policies and practices of a group, especially of the Communist Party, usually followed by the members without deviation; official philosophy or credo.
- the guiding policy, tenets, or practices of a political party: The judge was chosen on party lines.
- a telephone line connecting the telephones of a number of subscribers by one circuit to a central office, used in some rural areas.
- the boundary line separating adjoining properties.
Show More
Origin of party line
An Americanism dating back to 1825–35
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for party line
Contemporary Examples
Worst of all for disaster planning, legislatures are passing election reforms on party-line votes.
When she hit her stride in the 1960s, her compositions were too intuitive, even willful, to count as party-line Minimalism.
Patricia Murphy on the party-line fight behind closed doors.
Boehner may choose to ram through hard-right bills on party-line votes, giving him symbolic victories and Tea Party cred.
Historical Examples
These two general classes of party-line systems may, therefore, be termed "non-selective" and "selective" systems.
Cyclopedia of Telephony & Telegraphy Vol. 1Kempster Miller
The party-line problem in rural districts is somewhat different from that within urban limits.
Cyclopedia of Telephony & Telegraphy Vol. 1Kempster Miller
For party-line ringing the key matter becomes somewhat more complicated.
Cyclopedia of Telephony & Telegraphy Vol. 1Kempster Miller
party line
- a telephone line serving two or more subscribers
- the policies or dogma of a political party, to which all members are expected to subscribe
- mainly US the boundary between adjoining property
Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Idioms and Phrases with party line
party line
The official policy of an organization or government, as in The current party line opposes legalized abortion in all cases. This term, dating from about 1830, was originally used for a political party's official policy but in the mid-1900s was almost exclusively applied to the rigid dicta of the Soviet Communist Party. Since then it has returned to looser use.
Show More
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.