gas line
3
3.8
- noun
- /ɡæs laɪn/
- US
:
cola de coches
- People started to panic as gas lines stretched around the block, reminding them of past fuel crises.
- long gas line
- gas lines and rising prices
Examples
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My best friend was on a gas line, and someone cut the line where people had been waiting for a while.
Blog text (7) -
Drivers in and around New York and New Jersey have to wait hours in gas lines that can stretch for miles.
Blog text (7) -
I spend less time driving for 1 hour than sitting in a long gas line for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Blog text (4) -
Tensions are high, with numerous fights breaking out at gas lines.
Blog text (15) -
When the gas lines started in 1973, Detroit did... nothing.
Blog text (32) -
FACT: I use less gas driving 40 miles than idling in a long gas line.
Blog text (4) -
In 1979, a gas line formed at the Hess station at 44th Street and 10th Avenue.
Blog text (18) -
Christie ordered odd-even fuel sales to help ease shortages and long gas lines that have occurred since Sandy decimated the coast earlier this week.
Blog text (32) -
During the fuel shortage, many drivers waited in long gas lines at stations across the city.
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The news reported that the gas lines formed quickly after the announcement of rising fuel prices.
Synonyms
27
2.9
A line of people or vehicles waiting their turn
1
1.8
A line of people or cars waiting for their turn
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a line of vehicles waiting to buy gasoline' is directly derivable from combining 'gas' (fuel) with 'line' used in the common sense of a queue; this modifier+noun composition is productive and easy to infer from context (e.g. 'at the station'). While 'gas line' can also refer to a pipeline in other contexts, the intended sense is compositional and therefore transparent to a learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Gas line meaning a queue of cars comes from the sight of vehicles parked one after another at a filling station, forming a long line waiting for gas. So, the phrase means 'a line of cars waiting to buy gasoline'.