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wire - 11 dictionary results
Wire
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wire

  [wahyuhr] noun, adjective, verb, wired, wir⋅ing.
Use wire in a Sentence
–noun
1. a slender, stringlike piece or filament of relatively rigid or flexible metal, usually circular in section, manufactured in a great variety of diameters and metals depending on its application.
2. such pieces as a material.
3. a length of such material, consisting either of a single filament or of several filaments woven or twisted together and usually insulated with a dielectric material, used as a conductor of electricity.
4. a cross wire or a cross hair.
5. a barbed-wire fence.
6. a long wire or cable used in cable, telegraph, or telephone systems.
7. Nautical. a wire rope.
8. Informal.
a. a telegram.
b. the telegraphic system: to send a message by wire.
9. wires, a system of wires by which puppets are moved.
10. a metallic string of a musical instrument.
11. Underworld Slang. the member of a pickpocket team who picks the victim's pocket. Compare stall 2 (def. 5).
12. Horse Racing. a wire stretched across and above the track at the finish line, under which the horses pass.
13. Ornithology. one of the extremely long, slender, wirelike filaments or shafts of the plumage of various birds.
14. a metal device for snaring rabbits and other small game.
15. Papermaking. the woven wire mesh over which the wet pulp is spread in a papermaking machine.
16. the wire, the telephone: There's someone on the wire for you.
–adjective
17. made of wire; consisting of or constructed with wires.
18. resembling wire; wirelike.
–verb (used with object)
19. to furnish with wires.
20. to install an electric system of wiring in, as for lighting.
21. to fasten or bind with wire: He wired the halves together.
22. to put on a wire, as beads.
23. to send by telegraph, as a message: Please wire the money at once.
24. to send a telegraphic message to: She wired him to come at once.
25. to snare by means of a wire.
26. to equip with a hidden electronic device, as an eavesdropping device or an explosive.
27. to connect (a receiver, area, or building) to a television cable and other equipment so that cable television programs may be received.
28. Informal. to be closely connected or involved with: a law firm wired into political circles.
29. Informal. to prepare, equip, fix, or arrange to suit needs or goals: The sales force was wired for an all-out effort.
30. Croquet. to block (a ball) by placing it behind the wire of an arch.
–verb (used without object)
31. to send a telegraphic message; telegraph: Don't write; wire.
—Idioms
32. down to the wire, to the very last moment or the very end, as in a race or competition: The candidates campaigned down to the wire.
33. pull wires, Informal. to use one's position or influence to obtain a desired result: to pull wires to get someone a job.
34. under the wire, just within the limit or deadline; scarcely; barely: to get an application in under the wire.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME wir(e) (n.), OE wīr; c. LG wīr, ON vīra- wire, OHG wiara fine goldwork

Related forms:
wir⋅a⋅ble, adjective
wirelike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Wire
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wire   (wīr)   
n.  
  1. A usually pliable metallic strand or rod made in many lengths and diameters, sometimes clad and often electrically insulated, used chiefly for structural support or to conduct electricity.
  2. A group of wire strands bundled or twisted together as a functional unit; cable.
  3. Something resembling a wire, as in slenderness or stiffness.
  4. An open telephone connection.
  5. Slang A hidden microphone, as on a person's body or in a building.
    1. A telegraph service.
    2. A telegram or cablegram.
    3. The system of strings employed in manipulating puppets in a show.
    4. Hidden controlling influences.
  7. A wire service.
  8. Computer Science A pin in the print head of a computer printer.
  9. The screen on which sheets of paper are formed in a papermaking machine.
  10. Sports The finish line of a racetrack.
  11. wires
    1. The system of strings employed in manipulating puppets in a show.
    2. Hidden controlling influences.
  12. Slang A pickpocket.
  13. Fencing made of usually barbed wire.
v.   wired, wir·ing, wires

v.   tr.
  1. To bind, connect, or attach with wires or a wire.
  2. To string (beads, for example) on wire.
  3. To equip with a system of electrical wires.
  4. Slang To install electronic eavesdropping equipment in (a room, for example).
  5. To send by telegraph: wired her congratulations.
  6. To send a telegram to.
  7. Computer Science To implement (a capability) through logic circuitry that is permanently connected within a computer or calculator and therefore not subject to change by programming.
  8. To determine or put into effect by physiological or neurological mechanisms; hard-wire: "It is plausible that the basic organization of grammar is wired into the child's brain" (Steven Pinker).
v.   intr.
To send a telegram.

[Middle English, from Old English wīr; see wei- in Indo-European roots.]
wir'a·ble adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Wire

Wire\, n. 1. Chiefly in pl. The system of wires used to operate the puppets in a puppet show; hence (Chiefly Political Slang), the network of hidden influences controlling the action of a person or organization; as, to pull the wires for office.

2. One who picks women's pockets. [Thieves' Slang]

3. A knitting needle. [Scot.]

4. A wire stretching across over a race track at the judges' stand, to mark the line at which the races end. [Racing Cant]

Wire

Wire\, v. t. (Croquet) To place (a ball) so that the wire of a wicket prevents a successful shot.

Wire

Wire\, n. [OE. wir, AS. wir; akin to Icel. v[=i]rr, Dan. vire, LG. wir, wire; cf. OHG. wiara fine gold; perhaps akin to E. withy. ????.]

1. A thread or slender rod of metal; a metallic substance formed to an even thread by being passed between grooved rollers, or drawn through holes in a plate of steel.

Note: Wire is made of any desired form, as round, square, triangular, etc., by giving this shape to the hole in the drawplate, or between the rollers.

2. A telegraph wire or cable; hence, an electric telegraph; as, to send a message by wire. [Colloq.]

Wire bed, Wire mattress, an elastic bed bottom or mattress made of wires interwoven or looped together in various ways.

Wire bridge, a bridge suspended from wires, or cables made of wire.

Wire cartridge, a shot cartridge having the shot inclosed in a wire cage.

Wire cloth, a coarse cloth made of woven metallic wire, -- used for strainers, and for various other purposes.

Wire edge, the thin, wirelike thread of metal sometimes formed on the edge of a tool by the stone in sharpening it.

Wire fence, a fence consisting of posts with strained horizontal wires, wire netting, or other wirework, between.

Wire gauge or gage. (a) A gauge for measuring the diameter of wire, thickness of sheet metal, etc., often consisting of a metal plate with a series of notches of various widths in its edge. (b) A standard series of sizes arbitrarily indicated, as by numbers, to which the diameter of wire or the thickness of sheet metal in usually made, and which is used in describing the size or thickness. There are many different standards for wire gauges, as in different countries, or for different kinds of metal, the Birmingham wire gauges and the American wire gauge being often used and designated by the abbreviations B. W. G. and A. W. G. respectively.

Wire gauze, a texture of finely interwoven wire, resembling gauze.

Wire grass (Bot.), either of the two common grasses Eleusine Indica, valuable for hay and pasture, and Poa compressa, or blue grass. See Blue grass.

Wire grub (Zo["o]l.), a wireworm.

Wire iron, wire rods of iron.

Wire lathing, wire cloth or wire netting applied in the place of wooden lathing for holding plastering.

Wire mattress. See Wire bed, above.

Wire micrometer, a micrometer having spider lines, or fine wires, across the field of the instrument.

Wire nail, a nail formed of a piece of wire which is headed and pointed.

Wire netting, a texture of woven wire coarser than ordinary wire gauze.

Wire rod, a metal rod from which wire is formed by drawing.

Wire rope, a rope formed wholly, or in great part, of wires.

Wire

Wire\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wired; p. pr. & vb. n. Wiring.]

1. To bind with wire; to attach with wires; to apply wire to; as, to wire corks in bottling liquors.

2. To put upon a wire; as, to wire beads.

3. To snare by means of a wire or wires.

4. To send (a message) by telegraph. [Colloq.]

Wire

Wire\, v. i. 1. To pass like a wire; to flow in a wirelike form, or in a tenuous stream. [R.] --P. Fletcher.

2. To send a telegraphic message. [Colloq.]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : wire
Spanish: alambre, cable, hilo,
German: der Draht,
Japanese: 針金
More Translations »

wire  (n.)
O.E. wir "metal drawn out into a thread," from P.Gmc. *wiraz (cf. O.N. viravirka "filigree work," Swed. vira "to twist," O.H.G. wiara "fine gold work"), from PIE *wei- "to turn, twist, plait" (cf. O.Ir. fiar, Welsh gwyr "bent, crooked;" L. viere "to bend, twist," viriæ "bracelets," of Celtic origin). The verb meaning "to furnish with wires" is recorded from 1435. Wiretapping is recorded from 1904, from earlier wiretapper (1893). Wiry in the sense of "lean, tough" is first recorded 1808. Wired (adj.) "nervous, jittery" is from 1970s. Wirepuller in the political sense is 1848, Amer.Eng. Wiring "wires collectively," esp. "electrical wirework" is recorded from 1809.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: wire
Pronunciation: 'wI(&)r
Function: noun
: metal thread or a rod used in surgery to suture soft tissue or transfix fractured bone and inorthodontic dentistry to position teeth —wire transitive verb wired; wir·ing
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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wire

see down to the wire; get one's wires crossed; live wire; pull strings (wires); under the wire.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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wire

thread or slender rod, usually very flexible and circular in cross section, made from various metals and alloys, including iron, steel, brass, bronze, copper, aluminum, zinc, gold, silver, and platinum. The processes used are all fundamentally the same

Learn more about wire with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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