to toe the line
9
5.4
- idiom
- Informal
:
acatar las reglas
- To keep your job, you need to toe the line and follow the company's policies.
No, listen, I'm not here to toe the line for any sponsors.
- No, listen, I'm not here to toe the line for any sponsors.
- So if you're, if you're toeing the line for the new narrative and you know who you are, if you're toeing the line for the new narrative, then you're in the club.
- Do I just toe the line and say Nope, sorry, this is the menu, get over it.
- You don't know what any of them think or feel because they're all just toeing the line.
- Hollywood is the boot right on your face if you don't toe the line.
- Another example Orwell gives is toe the line.
- And he's he's I've known in a while, but he's he toes the line.
Examples
-
I think we should be asking: "Why is the entire Congress toeing the line?"
Blog text (21) -
No, listen, I'm not here to toe the line for any sponsors.
-
Okay, focus on that and just toe the line a little bit.
-
And more likely just to... just to toe the line.
-
Come on, man, toe the line.
Fiction book (1991) -
You gotta toe the line for John Q Public.
-
Now, toe the line and avoid trouble like the plague.
-
You'll have to toe the line for the rest of the year.
-
The rules in Cousin Glenda's house were inflexible, and everybody toed the line.
Fiction book (1997) -
You want to bitch about it, that's fine—but you will toe the line in my department.
Fiction book (1992)
Synonyms
411
1.0
Do what someone in charge tells you or follow a rule
332
3.8
Do what a rule or person asks
96
3.2
Think and act like other people or follow rules
91
1.8
To follow a rule or plan
79
3.9
To follow rules or instructions
79
3.5
To accept and follow a rule, decision, or agreement
55
2.8
Do what a rule says
50
3.7
Do what rules or standards say you must
18
4.3
To follow rules or other people after not wanting to at first
1
3.4
Follow rules or laws that apply to you
Antonyms
How Strict
411
1.0
- Informal
9
5.4
55
2.8
332
3.8
96
3.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
toe + the + line
The literal constituents 'toe' and 'line' evoke a concrete image of placing a toe on a line, which provides a spatial/metaphorical basis for the idea of aligning with a standard. However, the idiomatic sense 'to conform strictly to rules' is a metaphorical extension that a B1 learner who only knows the words would not reliably predict without exposure or explanation.
Etymology
The idiom toe the line may come from old races or military drills where people put their toe right on a marked line at the start to show they were in the correct place. So toe the line now means 'to do what is expected' or 'to follow the rules'.