wire
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /waɪə(ɹ)/
enpr: wīʹər
enpr: wīr
ipa: /ˈwaɪɚ/
ipa: /waɪ(ə)ɹ/
ipa: /wʌɪ(ə)ɹ/
ipa: [wäɪɚ]
ipa: [wəɪɚ]
rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
Forms: form: wires
Etymology: From Middle English wir, wyr, from Old English wīr (“wire, metal thread, wire-ornament”), from Proto-Germanic *wīraz (“wire”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₁iros (“a twist, thread, cord, wire”), from *weh₁y- (“to turn, twist, weave, plait”).
Senses: examples: text: Holonyms: cable; wiring harness; wire wool
text: 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.
ref: 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:
glosses: Metal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die.
glosses: A piece of such material; a thread or slender rod of metal, a cable.
examples: text: That wire powers the lamp.
text: 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.
ref: 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:
glosses: A metal conductor that carries electricity.
glosses: A fence made of usually barbed wire.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A finish line of a racetrack.
examples: text: The episode began by a telephone ring in the morning and the voice of Algernon Mailey at the far end of the wire.
ref: 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:
glosses: A telecommunication wire or cable.
examples: text: 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?
ref: 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:
text: “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.”
ref: 1964 [1929], William Faulkner, Sartoris (The Collected Works of William Faulkner), London: Chatto & Windus, page 23:
glosses: An electric telegraph; a telegram.
glosses: A hidden listening device on the person of an undercover operative for the purposes of obtaining incriminating spoken evidence.
examples: text: This election is going to go right to the wire
text: If you don't surrender now, it's gonna go down to the wire
ref: 1988, The Traveling Wilburys, “Tweeter and the Monkey Man”, in The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1:
glosses: A deadline or critical endpoint.
topics: ball-games
billiards
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A wire strung with beads and hung horizontally above or near the table which is used to keep score.
examples: to pull the wires for office
glosses: Any 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.
qualifier: thieves' slang
glosses: A pickpocket, especially one who targets women.
glosses: A covert signal sent between people cheating in a card game.
glosses: A knitting needle.
glosses: The slender shaft of the plumage of certain birds.
examples: text: Breaking news reports have just come in to us over the wire.
topics: journalism
media
glosses: Clipping of wire service and/or newswire.
Synonyms: sense: thin thread of metal
word: cable
sense: thin thread of metal
word: steel wire
sense: thin thread of metal
word: thread
sense: metal conductor that carries electricity
word: conducting wire
sense: fencing made of usually barbed wire
word: barbed wire
sense: informal: telegraph
word: telegraph
sense: informal: message transmitted by telegraph
word: telegram
sense: object used to keep the score in billiards
word: score string
Hyponyms: baling wire
barbed wire
chicken wire
earthing wire
earth wire
enameled wire
enamelled wire
fuse wire
guy wire
haywire
jump wire
live wire
piano wire
pull wire
razor wire
telegraph wire
trawlwire
tripwire
trip wire
woven wire
Derived terms: American wire gauge
archwire
barbed wire
barb wire
barb-wire
behind the wire
Birmingham wire gauge
bobbed wire
bob wire
body wire
bridge wire
Brussels wire ground
by wire
cheese wire
chicken wire
common wire
concertina wire
conducting wire
contact wire
crosswire
C wire
Dannert wire
down to the wire
drive-by-wire
enameled wire
Fedwire
fence wire
fencing wire
firewire
fly-by-wire
fly-wire
flywire
French wire
fuse wire
gate-to-wire
get one's wires crossed
go to the wire
ground wire
guidewire
guy-wire
have one's wires crossed
haywire
high-wire
highwire
high wire
high-wire walker
highwire walker
interwire
intrawire
Kirschner wire
K-wire
live-wire
live wire
low wire
magnesium wire
microguidewire
microwire
mosquito wire
mulga wire
multiwire
nanowire
newswire
news wire
nonwireless
office wire
on the wire
over-the-wire
page wire
pendulum wire
piano wire
pinion wire
poultry wire
pressure wire
priming wire
private-wire house
pull the wires
razor wire
razor-wired
ribbon wire
slackwire
slidewire
smoothwire
softwire
spit and baling wire
stair-wire
stair wire
tickle the wire
tie wire
tightwire
trawlwire
tripwire
under the wire
underwire
underwired
waiver wire
wire bail
wireball
wirebird
wire bonder
wirebound
wire bridge
wire broadcasting
wire-brush
wire brush
wire cartridge
wire chamber
wire clippers
wire cloth
wire connector
wire copy
wire cutter
wire cutters
wired
wire-dancer
wire-dancing
wiredraw
wiredrawer
wire edge
wire-edged
wire entanglement
wireform
wire fox terrier
wire-frame
wireframe
wire frame
wire fraud
wire fu
wire gauze
wiregrass
wire-guard
wire gun
wirehair
wirehaired
wire-haired
wirehead
wire-heel
wirehouse
wirelength
wireless
wirelessly
wirelessness
wirelike
wireline
wiremaker
wiremaking
wireman
wire mattress
wire netting
wire nut
wire off
wirephoto
wirer
wire recorder
wirerimmed
wireroom
wire rope
wire rush
wirescape
wire service
wiresmith
wiresome
wire speed
wire stem
wire stripper
wire-tap
wire tap
wiretap
wiretapper
wire-to-wire
wire transfer
wirewalker
wirewalking
wirewater
wireweed
wire wheel
wire wool
wirework
wireworker
wireworm
wire-wove
wire wrap
wiring
wiry
word on the wire
X-by-wire
zip wire
zip-wire
Related terms: filament
hawser
cable