hit off the line

hit off the line (third-person singular simple present hits off the line, present participle hitting off the line, simple past and past participle hit off the line)

1. (hunting) Of a hound, to pick up the scent of a quarry after a check.
   • 1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin, published 2013, page 198:

     Peerless, on the other hand, was worthy of her appellation, and frequently hit off the line when the others were at a loss to know which way their fox had gone across a bit of cold ploughland.