to stand in line
76
1.7
- phrasal verb
- US
:
hacer cola
- If you want to buy tickets, you will need to stand in line outside the theater.
Imagine passing a law saying you cannot provide water or food for someone standing in line to vote.
- Imagine passing a law saying you cannot provide water or food for someone standing in line to vote.
- You are now a member of Congress and you will never stand in line in this town ever again as long as you're in office.
- And he he told, he told her that he was standing in line for registration four years earlier.
- There is no way he cares enough to go stand in line a polling station and and cast a vote.
Examples
-
Or if you have the money, you can pay somebody to stand in line for you.
-
I'd never expected to return to Britain, but there I was, standing in the immigration line at Heathrow Airport.
Fiction book (1995) -
So please stand up, get in line, and we'll be able to ask your question.
-
All right, stand in line and look straight ahead.
-
If you wanna see a movie, you have to stand in line.
-
Is it healthy of a democracy to make people stand in line for hours to vote?
-
No way I'm standing in line for it.
-
Henry began to follow Eric around and stood next to him in line.
Fiction book (1997) -
There are sick people standing in line, all the way to the sidewalk.
Fiction book (1995) -
Well, I was standing in line at the post office yesterday and I'm lookin' around.
Synonyms
26
2.1
To wait in a line to get something
20
3.4
To form or join a line while waiting
17
2.0
Be patient and let others go before you until it is your turn
3
3.1
To wait in a line to buy something or enter a place
Join the back of a line of people waiting
How Long
- Informal
71
2.5
- US
76
1.7
∞
1.0
- Informal
494
2.5
- Informal
25
3.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to wait in a queue' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'stand' (be upright) with the locative preposition 'in' and 'line' (a formation/queue); the phrase literally depicts being upright within a line of people. This compositional locative pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows straightforward English syntax, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Stand in line comes from the simple picture of people standing one behind another in a straight line while they wait their turn. So, it means 'to wait in a queue'.