LINE NOUN (DRUGS)

In the slang of drug users: a dose of a powdered drug (especially cocaine). Etymology: So named because the powder is formed into a long trail like a line on a shiny surface, ready for 'snorting' through a straw or tube. An earlier use of the word in drugs slang was as an abbreviation of mainline, a main artery into which drugs such as heroin could be injected. History and Usage: A term of the late seventies and eighties, this word is rarely found in print but is apparently in common spoken use among drug users. Graffiti recently collected at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) include:...Cocaine is like a good joke. You can't wait for the next line. Maledicta Winter 1979, p. 276 [She] produced a six-inch ivory tube, sank to her knees and greedily did her lines, sniffing angel dust into each nostril. Roger Busby The Snow Man (1987), p. 21