Example sentences of "[vb pp] [prep] a long line " in BNC.

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1 Despite the fact that he had come from a long line of soldier forebears , even the combination of breeding , upbringing and training no longer made it easy for him to bear the tedium of army life with good grace .
2 Each individual cuckoo nestling is descended from a long line of ancestral cuckoo nestlings , every single one of whom must have succeeded in manipulating its foster-parent .
3 But each individual foster-parent is descended from a long line of ancestors many of whom never encountered a cuckoo in their lives .
4 When he took his seat , the trumpets blew and the dinner was served by a long line of servants who carried in plates of steaming hot boar 's meat , brawn , beef , sturgeon , fish , bowls of cream containing sugared strawberries , and jug after jug of different wines .
5 On the west side are the twin escarpments of Fell End Clouds and Stennerskeugh Clouds , and on the east a broad shelf is pitted by a long line of shakeholes and potholes , the Angerholme Pots .
6 ‘ While engaged in watching the movements of the several species of the great family of Procellaridae , which at one time often and often surrounded the ships that conveyed me round the world , a bright speck would appear on the distant horizon , and , gradually approaching nearer and nearer , at length assumed the form of the White-headed petrel , whose wing-powers far exceed those of any of its congeners ; at one moment it would be rising high in the air , at the next sweeping comet-like through the flocks flying around ; never , however , approaching the ship sufficiently near for a successful shot , and it was equally wary in avoiding the boat with which I was frequently favoured for the purpose of securing examples of other species ; but , to make use of a familiar adage , the most knowing are taken in at last ’ ’ ; one beautiful morning , the 20th of Feb. 1839 , during my passage from Hobart Town to Sydney , when the sea was perfectly calm and of a glassy smoothness , this wanderer of the ocean came in sight and approached within three hundred yards of the vessel ; anxious to attract him still closer , so as to bring him within range , I thought of the following stratagem : — a corked bottle , attached to a long line , was thrown overboard and allowed to drift to the distance of forty or fifty yards , and kept there until the bird favoured us with another visit , while flying around in immense circles ; at length his keen eye caught sight of the neck of the bottle ( to which a bobbing motion was communicated by sudden jerks of the string ) , and he at once proceeded to examine more closely what it was that had arrested his attention ; during this momentary pause the trigger was pulled , the boat lowered , and the bird was soon in my possession . ’
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