The line dry symbol
A square with a sagging curve across it is a clothesline in miniature: hang this one up and let the air do the work.
Line dry: Hang it on a line or bar to dry.
What it looks like
A square with a single curve dipping across the upper half — the sag of a clothesline seen from the side. It asks you to hang the garment on a line, a bar, or a hanger and let it dry in air. Nearly every time you meet it, a crossed-out dryer is somewhere else on the same tag: line dry is the instruction that replaces tumble drying, not one that competes with it.
How to hang it so it dries in the right shape
Shake the garment out and smooth the seams before you hang it, because whatever shape it dries in is the shape you get. Shirts go on a hanger or over the line at the shoulders; trousers hang from the waistband; heavy items get folded over the bar so the weight is shared instead of pulling on two clothespins.
Indoors, air movement beats warmth — a fan aimed across the rack shortens the job more than a warm room does, and it keeps a thick garment from souring while it sits damp. Line-dried cotton dries stiffer than tumbled cotton; a short shake, or ten minutes in the dryer on air if the tag allows the dryer at all, softens it back up.
The shade rider in the corner
Two short diagonal lines in the top-left corner of the drying square mean dry in shade — out of direct sunlight. It never appears on its own. It rides along with line dry, drip dry, or dry flat and adds one condition to whichever of those you already have. Wet fabric is when dye is at its most vulnerable, and a few hours of direct sun will fade a dark or brightly dyed garment while it hangs there.
Line dry versus dry flat
The two are not interchangeable. Anything knitted, loosely woven, or heavy when wet belongs flat — hung wet, it stretches under its own water weight, and shoulders and length don’t come back. When a tag says line dry, the maker has decided the garment can hold its own shape hanging. When it says dry flat instead, believe that one instead.
Related
Reading a whole tag, not one symbol? Tap everything you see into the decoder — it gives the careful combined plan.