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Medicine Line

(informal, North America) The Canada-United States border; the 49th parallel north: a circle of latitude that is 49° north of Earth's equator.

ˈmɛdəsən ˈlaɪnDocumented since 1880sSilenthistorical58 viewsLast reviewed Jun 29, 2026+ Add a definition
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Born ~1880 · no dated citations yet
1880BornToday, 2026

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#1·Apr 27, 2026

(informal, North America) The Canada-United States border; the 49th parallel north: a circle of latitude that is 49° north of Earth's equator.

Origin: First known attestation from 1880 where the term was described as being used "because no matter what [the Indians] have done [committed crimes] upon one side they feel perfectly secure after having arrived upon the other". A synonymous term which was attested earlier is medicine road from 1869 and ostensibly a calque of a Sioux term transcribed as "pejuta canku". Unrecorded use of the term or a similar one may date back more than a century earlier than the first attestation. See also protective charm among the Native Americans. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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