wire

plural wires

1. uncountableMetal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die.

   Holonyms: cable; wire rope; wiring harness; wire wool

   1 more example

   From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.

   2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52

   Synonyms: cable, steel wire, thread

2. countableuncountableA piece of such material; a thread or slender rod of metal, a cable.
3. countableuncountableA metal conductor that carries electricity.

   That wire powers the lamp.

   1 more example

   Time is running out, so I renounce a spin on a Class 387 for a fast run to Paddington on another Class 800 - a shame as the weather was perfect for pictures. Even so, it's enjoyable - boy, can those trains shift under the wires.

   2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68

   Synonyms: conducting wire

4. countableuncountableA fence made of usually barbed wire.

   Synonyms: barbed wire

5. countableuncountablehobbiesA finish line of a racetrack.
6. countableinformaluncountableA telecommunication wire or cable.

   The episode began by a telephone ring in the morning and the voice of Algernon Mailey at the far end of the wire.

   1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

7. broadlycountableuncountableAn electric telegraph; a telegram.

   Another letter. "Friedrichswerks, Hamburg, Germany. We beg to acknowledge receipt of order for fifteen thousand Robots." [Telephone rings.] Hello! This is the Central Office. Yes. Certainly. Well, send them a wire. Good. [Hangs up telephone.] Where did I leave off?

   c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 1

   1 more example

   “Oh, hadn’t I told you?” the other said quickly. “I had a wire yesterday. He landed in New York Wednesday. It was such a mixed-up sort of message, I never could understand what he was trying to tell me, except that he would have to stay in New York for a week or so. It was over fifty words long.”

   1964 [1929], William Faulkner, Sartoris (The Collected Works of William Faulkner), London: Chatto & Windus, page 23

   Synonyms: telegraph, telegram

8. countableslanguncountableA hidden listening device on the person of an undercover operative for the purposes of obtaining incriminating spoken evidence.
9. countableinformaluncountableA deadline or critical endpoint.

   This election is going to go right to the wire

   1 more example

   If you don't surrender now, it's gonna go down to the wire

   1988, The Traveling Wilburys, “Tweeter and the Monkey Man”, in The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1

10. countableuncountableball gamesA wire strung with beads and hung horizontally above or near the table which is used to keep score.
11. countableplural normallyuncountableAny of the system of wires used to operate the puppets in a puppet show; hence, the network of hidden influences controlling the action of a person or organization; strings.

    to pull the wires for office

12. archaiccountableuncountablethieves' slangA pickpocket, especially one who targets women.
13. countableslanguncountableA covert signal sent between people cheating in a card game.
14. ScotlandcountableuncountableA knitting needle.
15. countableuncountableA long, filamenteous, ornamental feather.

    Over the forehead is a large patch of pure white feathers, which shine like satin; and from the sides of the head spring the six wonderful feathers from which the bird receives its name. These are slender wires, six inches long, with a small oval web at the extremity.

    1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 409

16. abbreviationclippingcountableinformaluncountablejournalismClipping of wire service and/or newswire.

    Breaking news reports have just come in to us over the wire.

present singular third person wires · participle present wiring · participle past wired · past wired

1. To fasten with wire, especially with reference to wine bottles, corks, or fencing.

   We need to wire that hole in the fence.

   1 more example

   I could see him in his plane flying low over the river or a reservoir, dropping the club out with a chunk of lead wired to the shaft.

   1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, Bantam, published 1992, →ISBN, page 222

2. To string on a wire.

   wire beads

3. To equip with wires for use with electricity.

   Do you know how to wire a plug?

   1 more example

   Replying on March 20 to a Commons Written Question from Alberto Costa (Conservative, South Leicestershire) about plans to wire to Leicester, Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: "We are currently investing in the biggest upgrade of the Midland Main Line since it was completed in 1870. [...]

   2020 April 8, “Network News: MML still on electrification agenda”, in Rail, page 23

   Synonyms: electrify

4. To connect, embed, incorporate, or include (something) into (something else) by or as if by wires:
   1. To add (something) into a system (especially an electrical system) by means of wiring.

      I'll just wire your camera to the computer screen.

      1 more example

      Assuming that all of the conference rooms are wired into the LAN, the sales representative would have to carry a cable to connect into any conference room that they visit, find the appropriate wall jack, and connect into the network.

      2004, David Wall, Managing and Securing a Cisco Structured Wireless-Aware Network, →ISBN, page 2

   2. To add or connect (something) into a system as if with wires (for example, with nerves).

      There is an enormous neurological consequence to mechanorecptor dysfunction, which is related to how these cells are wired into the spinal cord.

      2004, Richard Weinstein, The Stress Effect, →ISBN

      1 more example

      The distal tier of cells has a wider acceptance angle than the proximal tier and different neuronal wiring (distal photoreceptors are wired into the lamina, while proximal photoreceptors are wired into the medulla), as well as a different spectral receptor composition.

      2003, Carol L. Boggs, Ward B. Watt, Paul R. Ehrlich, Butterflies: Ecology and Evolution Taking Flight, →ISBN, page 31

   3. To connect, involve or embed (something) deeply or intimately into (something else, such as an organization or political scene), so that it is plugged in (to that thing) (“keeping up with current information about (the thing)”) or has insinuated itself into (the thing).

      I am wired into my work on a continuous basis. I think that I can shut it off, but in my heart I know I cannot

      2002, Penny Gurstein, Wired to the World, Chained to the Home: Telework in Daily Life, →ISBN, page 193

      5 more examples

      He was the minority leader's political eyes and ears— nicknamed "the Electrician," due to all the intrigue and legislative shenanigans he was wired into.

      1996, H. L. Richardson, Split Ticket, →ISBN, page 54

      Like the fledgling scientist who tried to wire himself into the sisterly circle at Field Place, Prometheus joins the electric circuit formed by his "Fair sister nymphs," Panthea, Asia, ...

      1999, Teddi Chichester Bonca, Teddi Lynn Chichester, Shelley's Mirrors of Love: Narcissism, Sacrifice, and Sorority, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 186

      ... and quite handy indeed that they also saw fit to wire themselves into the social problem that they had a major hand in creating in the first place. This almost blatant orchestration of social conflict is just a ladle in the soup of ...

      2000, Joan D'Arc, Phenomenal World: Remote Viewing, Astral Travel, Apparitions, Extraterrestrials, Lucid Dreams and Other Forms of Intelligent Contact in the Magical Kingdom of Mind-at-Large, Book Tree, →ISBN, page 154

      RESTON MOVED QUICKLY to parlay his new prominence by wiring himself into high-level Washington sources, and not just Republicans like Vandenberg.

      2006, John F. Stacks, Scotty: James B. Reston and the Rise and Fall of American Journalism, U of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, page 102

      "When the island was initially green-lighted for casinos, Hu Dzem figured he was first in line, given the way he was wired into the gambling rackets in Hong Kong and on the mainland.

      2006, Don Pendleton, Slaughter House, →ISBN, page 180

5. figurativelypassiveusuallyTo set or predetermine (someone's personality or behaviour, or an organization's culture) in a particular way.

   There's no use trying to get Sarah to be less excitable. That's just the way she's wired.

   5 more examples

   “‘Cept I do hurt people sometimes, Case. I guess it's just the way I'm wired.”

   1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 25

   PPT hypothesises that grammatical properties which are universal will not have to be learned by the child, since they are wired into the language faculty and hence part of the child's genetic endowment...

   2004, Andrew Radford, English Syntax: An Introduction, →ISBN, page 11

   That voyage will be far more comfortable and may involve some sightseeing if internal marketing is wired into organizational culture and strategy rather than something that is done from time to time depending upon the economic cycle.

   2005, Michael Dunmore, Inside-out Marketing, →ISBN, page 6

   You make decisions innately; doing so is wired into how you behave.

   2011, Jay Pestrichelli, Wayne Ferbert, Buy and Hedge: The 5 Iron Rules for Investing Over the Long Term, →ISBN, page 9

   Maternal instinct is wired into the brain.

   2011, Kathryn E. Hood, Carolyn Tucker Halpern, Gary Greenberg, Handbook of Developmental Science, Behavior, and Genetics, →ISBN

6. ambitransitiveTo send a message or monetary funds to another person through a telecommunications system, formerly predominantly by telegraph.

   Urgent: please wire me another 100 pounds sterling.

   4 more examples

   The detective wired ahead, hoping that the fugitive would be caught at the railway station.

   If the thing doesn't tempt you, say no more about it. If it does, just wire a time and I'll be at the station.

   1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC

   Philip wired a succinct affirmative, and next morning a stranger presented himself at the studio.

   1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XLIX, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC

   In "The Boscombe Valley Mystery," Sherlock Holmes telegraphs Watson: "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the West of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. […]."

   1957 May 28, Neil Caplan, “Railways in English Fiction”, in Railway Magazine, page 349

   Synonyms: cable

7. slangTo make someone tense or psyched up. See also adjective wired.

   Coffee late at night wires me good and proper.

8. slangTo install eavesdropping equipment.

   We wired the suspect's house.

9. To snare by means of a wire or wires.
10. transitivecroquetTo place (a ball) so that the wire of a wicket prevents a successful shot.

plural Wires

1. A surname.