A historic French unit of length that survives in specific niche trades. In button making, it measures the diameter of a button, where one ligne equals 1/40 of an inch or 0.635 millimetres. In traditional watchmaking, it is used to measure the diameter of watch movements, equaling 2.255 millimetres.
Heard on the job
I need a gross of 24 ligne brass buttons for the heavy winter coats.
Also heard as
- line