Mason-Dixon line

Also Mason and Dixon line

[mey-suhn-dik-suhn]

noun

1. the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland, partly surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon between 1763 and 1767, popularly considered before the end of slavery as a line of demarcation between Free States and Slave States.

Mason-Dixon Line

/ ˈmeɪsə n ˈdɪksən /

noun

1. the state boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania: surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon; popularly regarded as the dividing line between North and South, esp between the free and the slave states before the American Civil War

Mason-Dixon line

¹

1. A boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, laid out by two English surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, in the 1760s. Before and during the Civil War, the line was symbolic of the division between slaveholding and free states. After the war, it remained symbolic of the division between states that required racial segregation and those that did not.

Mason-Dixon line

²

1. Part of the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland established by the English surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the 1760s. The line resolved disputes caused by unclear description of the boundaries in the Maryland and Pennsylvania charters.

Though the line did not actually divide North and South, it became the symbolic division between free states and slave states. Today, it still stands for the boundary between northern and southern states.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Mason-Dixon Line¹

An Americanism dating back to 1770–80

Example Sentences

On the other side of the Mason-Dixon line, Sydney Garrett, a 37-year-old marketing manager living in Houston with her husband and one-year-old, made a New Year’s resolution to use the service less frequently — and has so far held fast, save for the one time she needed to replenish her carpet shampooer.

From Salon

Boyd, who is retired after owning a mobile dog grooming business, described how redlining and other discriminatory housing policies pushed many Black Altadenians into homes west of Lake Avenue, which acted like a Mason-Dixon line separating West Altadena from the historically mostly white east side of the city.

From Los Angeles Times

During Monday’s episode of “The Daily Show,” the guest host said that while he respects Biden’s decision to protect his son, the sweeping pardon is a knock for Democrats because they framed Biden’s prior insistence on respecting the outcome of his son’s trial as their “Mason-Dixon line of morality.”

From Los Angeles Times

And don’t mention the Civil War below the Mason-Dixon line, because down there it was still called the War of Northern Aggression.

From Los Angeles Times

And though they’ve got two bumbling henchmen in pursuit, these gal pals live, laugh and ladylove their way through every Sapphic saloon south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

From Seattle Times