history - Origin and meaning of "along the lines of"

Where does the phrase along the lines of come from, and what are you really saying?

For instance, if you were commissioning a sculpture you might sit down with the artist and a pen and paper and say

I want something along the lines of this

and then draw a sketch.

Or if you were describing a book you wanted you might say

The plot was something along the lines of a murder and a police man.

Answer

The phrase means:

similar in type

• 
  

  I can't remember exactly what words he used but it was something along those lines.

  
  


• 
  

  I was thinking of doing a dinner party along the lines of that meal I cooked for Annie and Dave.

  
  

There is some discussion of its origins here, noting:

Probably from the meaning of "line" defined as sense #15b in the Oxford Engl. Dict.:

"fig. Plan of construction, of action, or procedure: now chiefly in phr. 'on (such and such) lines.'"

"In all very uncultivated countries . . . there are but obscure lines of any form of government" .

"He had reorganized the constitution on the most strictly conservative lines".

To say that "The plot was something along the lines of a murder and a police man" means that the plot line of the novel was something similar to a murder with a policeman. Or, if you're designing a sculpture and have an idea in mind, you can sketch it out and say you want something along those lines--that is, you want "something like this".