line up, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

line up v.

1. lit. or fig., to stand or place oneself in a line.

(a) (US) to associate, to join up with.

1900		H. Garland Eagle’s Heart 99: He made a serious social mistake when he ‘lined up’ with the truck farmers.
1927		H.C. Witwer Classics in Sl. 70: The minute Tybalt seen Mercutio he starts bawlin’ him out for linin’ up with Romeo.
1937		E. Anderson Thieves Like Us (1999) 178: I could get lined up with one of those big mining companies.
1959		M. Richler Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1964) 58: Got yourself lined up good in Miami, eh? Some ritzy batchelor.
1976		N. Thornburg Cutter and Bone (2001) 24: He and Ronnie are just passing through, trying to line up talent.

(b) (Aus., also line up to) to accost, to approach.

1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 23 Sept. 1/1: A dandy Hebrew barber [...] lines up to every shicksa at dances and requests a sit-out.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Dec. 15/2: Then, one evening, the nuisance saw a tubby, fashionably-dressed man sauntering along, with a cigar between his lips. Nothing pleased old Whiskers more than tackling one of the Upper Ten. He lined up to him. ‘Don’t you know,’ he said, ‘that smoking is prohibited on railway stations? Can’t you read?’.
1924		G.H. Lawson Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 LINE UP — To accost.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 43: Line up to, to approach, accost a person.
1957		‘Nino Culotta’ They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 161: Line up somethin’ good an’ she’s likely ter latch onter me or Pat.
1965		J. O’Grady Aussie Eng. (1966) 97: He lines up on a sheila from the big smoke.

1923		D. Hammett ‘The Second-Story Angel’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 221: They’d think I was getting a job lined up for some mob.
1932		(con. 1919) Dos Passos Nineteen Nineteen in USA (1966) 479: Say Joe, and I got a job lined up.
1948		H. McCoy Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye in Four Novels (1983) 97: ‘Got anything lined up?’ ‘I’ll have to talk with Ralph first.’.
1950		‘Hal Ellson’ Tomboy (1952) 15: I thought you said you lined up the job.
1968		N. Heard Howard Street 135: The only steady money she made was from tricks he lined up for her, mostly white men.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 84: I thought I’d get on the horn and line up a few people.
1985		S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 119: We had something really dishy lined up for you.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 142: You lined my cash?

(d) (US Und.) to be subjected to or to subject to a police identification parade [line-up n. (1)].

1924		D. Hammett ‘One Hour’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 253: We lined up everybody we could find in the neighborhood where the car was stolen from.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 121: Line up. – The daily inspection of newly captured prisoners at a police headquarters. [...] the prisoners are ‘lined up’ on a small stage, behind a strong array of lights, so that their every peculiarity is at once apparent.
1953		J. Thompson Savage Night (1991) 110: I could line up before every cop in the country.

2. in senses of assault.

(a) (US) to subject to or (rare) to be subjected to a gang rape [line-up n. (2)].

1913		G.J. Kneeland Commercialized Prostitution in N.Y. City 65: She was ‘lined up’ [...] by a gang that ‘hangs out’ in a cigar store on East 14th Street.
1934		B. Appel Brain Guy (2005) 44: He hadn’t gone to public school with them ...] or lined up some dame in a coal cellar.
1947		I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 162: They’re gonna line up some other babes.
1953		Kramer & Karr Teen-Age Gangs 20: I figger they lined up on Louise.
1965		L. Bruce How to Talk Dirty 143: You know what those Americans did to your mother, they lined her up, those bastards.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.

3. in transitive senses.

(a) (US) to rob.

1926

J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 181: We located a big poker game in a soft spot and decided to ‘line up’ the players.

(b) (orig. US) to recruit; to put someone in a given position or situation.

1930		M. Fiaschetti You Gotta Be Rough 116: [I]t is up to the detective to protect his sources of information [...] You’ve got a fat chance of keeping your stool pigeons lined up if you are getting them turned into business for the undertaker.
1951		M. Spillane One Lonely Night 109: I wouldn’t line him up for a smear.

1976

N. Ross Policeman’s Bible 9: I still lined up the parking lot for a sawbuck a week.

4. (gay) to gang fellate or sodomize.

1941		G. Legman ‘Lang. of Homosexuality’ Appendix VII in Henry Sex Variants.
1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 28: line up (on) (v.): The act of a group of men, usually three or more, who pedicate and/or irrumate a homosexual, one after the other or together or both; as distinguished from gang-fuck (q.v.), which usually involves only homosexuals. Here, the men are to be considered as heterosexuals who take one homosexual to satisfy any sexual desires.

5. (N.Z. prison) to use some form of line (string, nylon, etc) to send contraband to a fellow-inmate.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 108/2: line up v. to send contraband to one’s fellow inmate(s) using any device that incorporates a line.

In phrases

line up one’s ducks (v.) (also keep one’s ducks in line)

(US) to set or keep one’s affairs in order.

1941		‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 13 Sept. 9/7: Never drink too much gin or wine that you can’t keep your ‘ducks’ in line.
1969		S. Greenlee Spook who Sat by the Door (1972) 5: How do we shape up on TV, Dick? All our ducks in line?

line up to (v.)

see sense 1b above.