draw a line

Meanings

verbdraw a line (third-person singular simple present draws a line, present participle drawing a line, simple past drew a line, past participle drawn a line)

present singular third person draws a line · participle present drawing a line · past drew a line · participle past drawn a line

figurativelyidiomaticoftenTo delimit a boundary or border.
Seth Diamond, commissioner of the Department of Homeless Services, drew a line between evacuees and the “traditional homeless,” arguing that court-ordered rules on shelter standards do not apply to short-term shelter from a natural disaster.
2012 November 20, Nina Bernstein, “Storm Bared a Lack of Options for the Homeless in New York”, in New York Times
1 more example
2008: Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World, Chapter VII How to strike this balance —deterring China, on the one hand, accommodating its legitimate growth, on the other— is the central strategic challenge for American diplomacy. The United States can and should draw lines with China. But it should also recognize that it cannot draw lines everywhere.