lineman

Etymology

It is formed from English line + man.^[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A man employed to look after a railway, telegraph or telephone line, and one who carries the line in surveying: both in 1858, in P. L. Simmonds's Dictionary of Trade Products.^[2][6] Etymonline also dates the word to 1858, as a worker on telegraph lines.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word was first used of men who kept up telegraph (later telephone) lines and railway lines, and of the surveyor's chainman.^[2][3] It later applied above all to workers who put up and repair electric power and communication lines.^[6][7] A line fisherman was also called a lineman (1890, in the Century Dictionary).^[2] In American and Canadian football a lineman is a player in the forward line, the line of scrimmage: Etymonline dates this sense to 1894, the OED to 1907.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1858 – a man who maintains a railway, telegraph or telephone line; one who carries the line in surveying.^[2][6][3]
• 1890 – a line fisherman.^[2]
• 1894 – in American football, a forward.^[3] The OED's first quotation is from 1907.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who installs or repairs telephone, telegraph or electric power lines; also called a linesman.^[7][6][2]
2. A person who inspects and repairs railway tracks.^[7][2]
3. In American football, a player positioned on the line of scrimmage, such as a guard, tackle or center: a defensive lineman.^[6][7][2]
4. In surveying, a person who carries the line or chain; a chainman.^[6][2]

Related words

• linesman
• line
• man

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt