Meaning of give someone line | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To unreel more fishing line so that a hooked fish has more freedom to tire itself out.
2. To allow a person more or less liberty until it is convenient to stop or check him/her.
   dated, idiomatic

Examples

“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.”

CEFR level