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random line

American  

noun

Surveying.

  1. a trial survey line run from a station toward a predetermined point that cannot be seen from the station.

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.

“He gave me a shout. We met at the top and decided to pop out-of-bounds. That zone was unfamiliar to me. I picked a random line and took off down the hill.”

From Seattle Times • Apr. 9, 2023

We were doting but erratic parents, full of hubris, always walking a random line.

From Salon • Jun. 26, 2012

"Be pale afar, since still to me you shine,   And must while Nature's eldest law shall hold;"— Ah, there's the thought which makes his random line       Dear as refinèd gold!

From Poems by Jean Ingelow, In Two Volumes, Volume I. by Ingelow, Jean

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.