I. ˈwī(ə)r, -īə noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English wīr; akin to Old Norse vīra virki wirework, filigree, Old High German wiara fine gold, Latin viēre to twist together, plait, Greek iris rainbow; basic meaning: bend, turn
1.
a. : metal in the form of a usually very flexible thread or slender rod
b. : a thread or rod of such material — compare cord 3b
2. : the strings of a musical instrument ; broadly : stringed instrument
3.
a. : wirework ; especially : woven wire
screen wire
b. : the meshwork of parallel or woven wire on which the wet web of paper forms and is drained
4. : a wirelike thing (as a thin plant stem or a hair) ; specifically : bine , stolon 1a
hop wires
strawberry wires
5. usually wires plural
a. : a system of wires used to operate the puppets in a puppet show
b. : the network of hidden influences controlling the action of a person or organization
pull the wires for office
6.
a. : a line of wire for conducting electrical current — compare cord 3b
b.
(1) : a telegraph wire or cable
(2) : a telegraph system
send a message by wire
the wires of Europe were hot with telegrams — C.E.Black & E.C.Helmreich
(3) : telegram , cablegram
send a wire
wire news
c. : a telephone wire or system
heard a familiar voice over the wire
as soon as she could get that man off the wire — F.M.Ford
7. : a metal snare (as for rabbits)
8. Scotland : knitting needle
9. slang : pickpocket ; especially : the member of a pickpocket team who picks the victim's pocket
10. : fencing or a fence of barbed wire
a horse cut by wire
behind the wire of a prison stockade
also : a barbed wire entanglement (as on a battlefield)
11. : wire rope
12. : a wire-haired dog
13. : a wire strung high between the winning posts between which the horses pass at the finish of a race
finished a dismal last at the wire — F.M.Blunk
broadly : the finish line of a race
as the campaign goes down to the wire — Elmo Roper & Louis Harris
14. : a wire on which acrobats perform
wire act
wire walker
— see high wire , slack wire , tightwire
15.
a. : a long rod or strip of metal with a smooth or cutting edge used in the formation of looped or cut pile in carpet weaving
b. : the fineness of carpets measured by the number of rows of tufts per inch
16. : metal thread or rod used in surgery to suture soft tissue or transfix fractured bone — compare tantalum gauze
17. : information surreptitiously or privately exchanged between gamblers (as by a signal)
18. : magnetic recording wire
•
- under the wire
- under wire
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English wiren, from wire (I)
transitive verb
1. : to provide with wire : use wire on for any purpose : string, stiffen, or connect with wire
wire corks in bottles
wire a skeleton
wire beads
wire a fence
wire a hat
wire a house for electricity
wire electric lights together
2. : to snare by means of a wire
wire a rabbit
3. : to send or send word to by telegraph
wire me the news
4. : to place (a croquet ball) behind the wire of an arch thus preventing a successful shot
intransitive verb
: to send a telegraphic message
wire home for money
III. transitive verb
: to predispose, determine, or establish genetically or innately : hardwire herein
the controversy over the extent to which human violence is wired biologically