LINE OF BUSINESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does line of business mean? 

• LINE OF BUSINESS (noun)
  The noun LINE OF BUSINESS has 2 senses:

1. a particular kind of product or merchandise

2. a particular kind of commercial enterprise

  Familiarity information: LINE OF BUSINESS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LINE OF BUSINESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A particular kind of product or merchandise

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

business line; line; line of business; line of merchandise; line of products; product line

Context example:

a nice line of shoes

Hypernyms ("line of business" is a kind of...):

merchandise; product; ware (commodities offered for sale)

Meronyms (parts of "line of business"):

top of the line (the best (most expensive) in a given line of merchandise)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "line of business"):

sideline (an auxiliary line of merchandise)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A particular kind of commercial enterprise

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

field; field of operation; line of business

Context example:

they are outstanding in their field

Hypernyms ("line of business" is a kind of...):

business; business enterprise; commercial enterprise (the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects)

 Context examples 

There never was such another drunken madman in that line of business, I hope.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I was glad to give her a sufficient sum to set her up in a good line of business, and so get decently rid of her.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It's one of the drawbacks of our line of business.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“It ain't that I complain of my line of business,” said Mr. Omer.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Janet ventured to suggest that my aunt might be disturbing herself unnecessarily, and that she believed the donkey in question was then engaged in the sand-and-gravel line of business, and was not available for purposes of trespass.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)