lay on the line

1. Put something at risk, as in The troops sent overseas were laying their lives on the line . [Mid-1900s]

2. lay it on the line . Speak frankly and firmly, make something clear. For example, The professor laid it on the line: either hand in a term paper or fail the course . [c. 1920]

3. Make ready for payment, as in They laid hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line to develop the new software . [c. 1900]

Example Sentences

So how did Paul do in the clutch—when it mattered, when all eyes were on him, when the fate of the Republican Party lay on the line?

From The New Yorker

Most unhappily for itself Byzantium lay on the line of division between the eastern provinces, where Pescennius Niger had been proclaimed, and the Illyrian provinces, where Severus had assumed the imperial style.

From Project Gutenberg

These he kindly promised to me, even authorizing me to get them at the place where he had deposited them, and which lay on the line of my daily tramp to the ruins.

From Project Gutenberg

The policy of the Corning Foundation is to demand something very definite in return for the money they lay on the line.

From Project Gutenberg

Two unfortunate small villages which lay on the line of march were surrounded and the inhabitants massacred.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• ask
• come up with
• introduce
• nominate
• offer
• recommend
• request
• submit
• urge