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life line

life line

8.0
A curved line on the palm that some people say shows how long you will live
  • noun
  • /ˈlaɪf laɪn/
  • Archaic
translation icon : línea de la vida
  • This is your life line

Examples

Synonyms

lifeline
vslife line
2 8.9

A line on the hand that people say shows how long you will live

is a neutral definition focusing on duration rather than tradition
line of life
vslife line
  • Jargon
9.8

A crease on the palm that some people say shows how long someone will live

is the identical meaning expressed without emphasizing traditional belief

Surface Forms

life line singular
life lines plural

Morphology

life + line

The compound is partly compositional: combining 'life' (span of existence) with 'line' (a crease) points toward a line that relates to life, so a learner could infer it denotes a life-related line. However, the specific palmistry sense (a crease on the palm said to indicate duration of life) depends on cultural/domain knowledge about reading palm lines and is not fully predictable from the words alone.

Etymology

Life line comes from palm reading. The words life and line refer to a curved mark on the palm that palm readers would trace to guess 'how long someone will live', so the phrase means a crease people thought showed a person's length of life.