From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishline up phrasal verb1 ARRANGE A GROUP OF THINGS OR PEOPLEif people line up, or if you line them up, they stand in a row or line, or you make them do this Line up, everybody!line somebody ↔ up He lined us all up in the corridor.2 line something ↔ up to arrange things in a row I lined the bottles up on the sideboard.3 line something ↔ up to move one thing so that it is in the correct position in relation to something elseline something ↔ up with The windows should be lined up with the door frame.4 ARRANGE A MEETING, EVENT ETC line somebody/something ↔ up to arrange for something to happen or for someone to be available for an event We’ve lined up some excellent speakers for tonight. He’s already got a new job lined up. → line-up → line→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
line up• They lined the prisoners up and shot them.• The guard ordered us to line up by the wall.• The horses were being lined up for the start of the race.• He lined the dolls up from tallest to shortest.• He lined up the plates on the table in front of them.• Christopher and the other children lined up to receive their awards.line with• He drew his parang, lining Kaptan up with his clenched left fist for the blade blow with the right.• It must line its stripes up with the lines of the bark if it is to be camouflaged.• This tactic had the added advantage of lining us up with the village where the jeep would be waiting.got ... lined up• Look what we've got lined up.• Somehow Price had found their place, and Corporal Petrossian with his mania for detail had got the platoon lined up correctly.line-upˈline-up noun [countable usually singular] 1 DSthe players in a sports team who play in a particular game This was his first match in the starting line-up (=the players who begin the game).2 GROUP OF PEOPLEa group of people, especially performers, who have agreed to be involved in an event The line-up included top bands Prodigy and Radiohead.3 ARRANGE A MEETING, EVENT ETCa number of events or programmes arranged to follow each other a wonderful line-up of programmes for Christmas and the New Year4 especially American EnglishSC a row of people who stand in front of a witness to a crime, who is then asked if he or she recognizes any of them as the criminal SYN identification parade British EnglishExamples from the Corpus
line-up• This was an unfamiliar Forest line-up.• CBS has a great Wednesday night line-up.• Andy hadn't a care in the world as he joked with a star-packed line-up of players.• Second placed Sutton also name their most powerful line-up at home to Wavertree, for whom skipper Ian Morley returns.• It's all part of an incredible £40,000 prize line-up.• In the evening, the names of those who had been picked from the line-up were read out over the camp tannoy.• Cordell may not be in the line-up for tonight's game.• I stuck it till my teeth began to scream and then I ducked out of the line-up and no one noticed I'd gone.• The line-up of performers includes Cher and Garth Brooks.• Just look at this winning line-up!starting line-up• In the event the starting line-up went down to the wire.• Bjornbye was immediately drafted into the party and could make a surprise appearance in the starting line-up at left back.• And he found himself in the starting line-up when top scorer Chris Kiwomya went down with flu.• Was this his first match in the starting line-up?• Andy Payton was in the starting line-up with Stuart Ripley on the substitutes' bench.• And a hamstring injury has put skipper Ellery Hanley out of the starting line-up against Rovers. 