opening line

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Noun1.opening line - the first line of a piece of writing (as a newspaper story)
news article, news story, newspaper article - an article reporting news
line - text consisting of a row of words written across a page or computer screen; "the letter consisted of three short lines"; "there are six lines in every stanza"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
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References in classic literature
He sings the opening lines perhaps more than once, in order to gather the people round him.
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Miss Dunross silently wrote the opening lines of the letter, and waited for the words that were to follow.
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Although the only coherent part of the latter piece of literature were the opening lines,
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The hopelessness and the imprudence of this proceeding failed to strike me before I had actually written the opening lines of the letter.
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10 'Drew looks at me, I fake a smile so he won't see,' is the opening line from which song?
QUIZ
From its opening line ("Dumbfounded, downtrodden and dejected") to the moment Rosenstock yanks the ripcord on a slow-synth segue and unleashes a chant of "Et tu USA?
JEFF ROSENSTOCK; SOUND JUDGEMENT
Although Siri may not possess the same singing prowess as Freddie Mercury, the witty AI more than makes up for it with gusto, willingly belting out thirteen lines of lyrics following the opening line.
WATCH: Apple's Siri belts out Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
Mowat, who died this week, starts his books with a good opening line and keeps the momentum going from beginning to end.
Brewing up some fine openings
He was suggesting the opening line of a Tale of Two Cities, "...
Learning a lesson from recession
"Hardly anybody got their brochures!" He'd sent themout as planned and then starting calling around, using the opening line - "It's Craig here fromAcme Blinds" (names changed to protect, etc) "I just wondered if you got the brochurewe sent out last week" Hmmm...
Why yes or no will never be a right answer
The opening line is brilliant in its simplicity: "I'm sorry if I get a bit conventional, but it really did happen like this" Like Camus's opening line in The Stranger, Gadda's first sentence compels a reader to continue by virtue of that simplicity.
Carlo Emilio Gadda. The Philosophers' Madonna
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