draw a straight furrow

draw a straight furrow (third-person singular simple present draws a straight furrow, present participle drawing a straight furrow, simple past drew a straight furrow, past participle drawn a straight furrow)

1. (idiomatic) To live correctly or ethically, without deviating from the right line of duty.
   • 1848, [James Russell Lowell], “(please specify the page)”, in Homer Wilbur [pseudonym], editor, Melibœus-Hipponax. The Biglow Papers, […], Cambridge, Mass.: George Nichols, →OCLC:

     None could n't quicker pitch a ton
     Nor dror a furrer straighter

• “furrow”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.