give someone line

present singular third person gives someone line · participle present giving someone line · past gave someone line · participle past given someone line

1. fishingTo unreel more fishing line so that a hooked fish has more freedom to tire itself out.

   1 more example

   Give him LINE, boy (as the trout rushed down into the shallows); into the water, boy! the line's nearly run out; it's nowhere up to your knees. Watch him! draw the line up; gently! give him line; give him line—thought so! —I feared so, ' as the line, becoming entangled from drawing it up, snapped, and the fish dashed on blindly into the shallows and stranded.

   1862, Cyril Thornton, Conyers Lea

2. datedidiomaticTo allow a person more or less liberty until it is convenient to stop or check him/her.