tan linen.
/ˈtan lʌɪn/, U.S. /ˈtæn ˌlaɪn/ A line on a person's body where darker, tanned skin meets paler skin which is not tanned, typically because it has been covered by clothing during exposure to sunlight, sunlamps, etc.
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1935 Ada (Okla.) Evening News 19 May 3/6 (advt.) Uplifts mould the smart new modern contours, Sunbacks adjust to your idea of a sun-tan line.]
1944 Emporia (Kansas) Gaz. 21 Aug. 2/2 Ted Newcomer..is wearing a tan line diagonally across his forehead. Lieutenant Newcomer acquired the tan and sunburn while on maneuvers.
1958 Sun (Baltimore) 4 July 10/3 A long-sleeved shirt is essential for a horsewoman, to avoid a tan-line on the arm.
1970 Los Angeles Times 25 Aug. (Orange County ed.) iv. 6/1 He's found that men don't like the 'just cut' look they get when a barber's clippers whip above the tan line on the back of the neck.
1974 Laurel (Mississippi) Leader-Call 1 July 12/2 It gives a great tan line..a longer legged look than the bikini.
1980 Evening Capital (Annapolis, Maryland) 18 Oct. 18/3 His arms are tanned only up to his shirt sleeves, and he has a V-shaped tan line below his neck.
2010 J. Scudamore Heliopolis 180 I was stalled by what I saw—the stark, white Y at her trunk, the tan-line crisply delineated from the milky coffee of her thighs.
2014 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 16 Feb. (Travel section) 1 By summer my calves may have tan lines from my ski boots.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1944