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Glite Dictionary
🚶 To stand in order 📅 To arrange
to line up

to line up

110 2.7
Arrange for someone or something to be available when needed
  • phrasal verb
  • /laɪn ʌp/
: conseguir
  • The environmental community had promptly lined up in favor of stringent limits on vehicular emissions.

Have you, what people have you lined up to build this thing?

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Examples

  • I brought all the bottles to the kitchen counter and lined them up, seven in all.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Because, Leslie explained, he had lined up a job with an important law firm there.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • And people would line up to see this guy, right?

  • We invite you to line up to ask your question.

  • We have a microphone, oh, just on that side for people to line up and ask questions.

  • Buyers are already lining up.

    Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

  • So, we have a few drummers lined up.

    Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025)

  • The class concludes, and Mr. Weiss tells the students to line up and they exit the gymnasium.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The orderlies brought the blues out on stretchers and lined them up in a neat row.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • We need to line up volunteers for the charity event next weekend.

Synonyms

to find
vsto line up
∞ 1.0

To get someone or something you need for a purpose

arrange for or secure rather than only obtaining
to set up
vsto line up
∞ 2.7

To assemble and prepare equipment or objects so they are ready to use

arrange or obtain items or people rather than assemble them
to get hold
vsto line up
  • UK
213 3.2

To contact a person or obtain something you need

arrange or obtain without stressing the effort to succeed
to fix up
vsto line up
  • Informal
18 3.7

To arrange for someone to meet another person or get something as a favor

arrange more neutrally without the favour or personal help angle

Antonyms

to dismiss
80 2.7

To tell people to leave a meeting or room

How Secured

to secure
  • Specialized
11 5.3
to confirm
  • Formal
115 2.6
to line up
110 2.7
to arrange
653 2.0
to ask
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

line up infinitive
lined up past
lined up past participle
lining up present participle
lines up third person singular

Morphology

line + up

The sense 'arrange for/obtain' is a metaphorical extension from the literal idea of putting items or people into a line (line) with 'up' adding a sense of arrangement or completion. Although the connection to arranging or securing something can be guessed by seeing the motion/ordering sense, the transitive usage (e.g., 'line up a meeting') is not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Line up can also come from the idea of putting people or things into a line or 'lining them up' so they are ready for an event, like arranging speakers one after another. So line up means 'to arrange or get someone or something for a particular purpose'.