The expression can have a few meanings depending on context. The latter definition is that applied in the song "Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash. Tandem gait is a gait (method of walking or running) where the toes of the back foot touch the heel of the front foot at each step. 2. walk-the-line definition: Verb 1. This is a reference to trying to walk straight (walk a line) and pass a field sobriety test, while drunk or intoxicated, in front of a Law Enforcement Officer. Thanks. It often means to do one's duty in a way that requires focus and determination, and where deviation could be disastrous. A man passes a field sobriety test while drunk by walking in a straight line. In addicts' speech, to be "straight" is be clean and sober, to refrain from using drugs and alcohol. "Walk a straight line", on the other hand, seems to mean that a toddler is taught to walk very straight in a certain distance. Looks like they are all correct English. walk the line To maintain an intermediate position between contrasting choices, opinions, etc. (idiomatic) To maintain an intermediate position between contrasting choices, opinions, etc. But what are their differences? 2. Definition of walk a thin line in the Idioms Dictionary. What does walk a thin line expression mean? Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. : good and evil, sanity and insanity, decency and decadence, etc. the johnny cash movie was called that because it's the name of a johnny cash song (i walk the line)that he was inspired to write to let june carter know (after she used those words to him) he was willing to work on his substance abuse issues if that was what it took to earn her love. 13: I sat at dinner, but satisfied myself with nibbling bread crusts, and witnessing the forlorn and perilous efforts of my friends to walk the line between starvation and acute indigestion. To me walking the line is about exactly that. What do you think? i.e. To maintain a fragile balance between one extreme and another. walk a thin line phrase. 1. walk the straight and narrow, don't stray and get in trouble. General Comment"Because you're mine, I walk the line". Is "walk straight" the same as "walk in a straight line", both meaning that you do not turn when you walk? 1914, Julian Hawthorne, The Subterranean Brotherhood, ch. it basically means to behave yourself.