double yellow line

double yellow line (plural double yellow lines)

1. (UK) A pair of yellow lines painted at the side of a road to show that parking is not permitted at any time.
   • 1995, Nina Fletcher, Janet Holt, Ethics, law, and nursing:

     The person who parked their car on the double yellow line may be a doctor who has been called urgently to the house of a critically ill patient ...

   • 1998, Ruth Gairns, Stuart Redman, True to life: English for adult learners.:

     I'm sorry, you were parking on a double yellow line, you've got a ticket.

   • 1999, Ruth Rendell, A site for sore eyes:

     He knew it would be risky parking on a double yellow line, or even a single yellow line, at this hour, but in a side street off the back of Kensington Church Street he found areas demarcated on the roadway with white lines.

   • 2001, Julian Symons, A Three-Pipe Problem:

     When he reached the street Claber and the girl were crossing the road to a Mercedes coupé, parked on a double yellow line.

2. A pair of yellow lines painted along the middle of a road to show that traffic should not cross into the oncoming lane
   • 1987 May, Popular Science:

     The photo on pages 22 and 23 of your February issue shows the driver of a Chevy Beretta topping a hill and rounding a curve on the wrong side of a double yellow line.

   • 1998, Jack C. Richards, Jonathan Hull, Susan Proctor, New interchange: English for international communication:

     Police officer: Well, for one thing, you went over a double yellow line back there to pass a car.

   • 2000, Bob Bondurant, Edwin J. Sanow, Bob Bondurant on police and pursuit driving:

     Hutchison observed the Buick cross the double yellow line to pass a car at the bottom of a dip.

• double red line
• single yellow line