wire
UK /waɪə(ɹ)/ · US /ˈwaɪɚ/ noun, verb, proper noun
- noun (uncountable) Metal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die.
- noun A piece of such material; a thread or slender rod of metal, a cable.
- noun A metal conductor that carries electricity. “That wire powers the lamp.”
- noun A fence made of usually barbed wire.
- noun (sports) A finish line of a racetrack.
- noun (informal) A telecommunication wire or cable.
- noun (by extension) An electric telegraph; a telegram.
- noun (slang) A hidden listening device on the person of an undercover operative for the purposes of obtaining incriminating spoken evidence.
- verb To fasten with wire, especially with reference to wine bottles, corks, or fencing. “We need to wire that hole in the fence.”
- verb To string on a wire. “wire beads”
- verb To equip with wires for use with electricity. “Do you know how to wire a plug?”
- verb To add (something) into a system (especially an electrical system) by means of wiring. “I'll just wire your camera to the computer screen.”
- verb To add or connect (something) into a system as if with wires (for example, with nerves).
- verb 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).
- verb (figuratively, usually passive) To 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.”
- verb (ambitransitive) To 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.”
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
cable steel wire thread conducting wire barbed wire telegraph telegram score string electrify
Antonyms
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”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- noun 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.
- verb To bind with wire; to attach with wires; to apply wire to; as, to wire corks in bottling liquors.
- verb To put upon a wire; as, to wire beads.
Etymology [OE. wir, AS. wir; akin to Icel. virr, Dan. vire, LG. wir, wire; cf. OHG. wiara fine gold; perhaps akin to E. withy. .]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “wire”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details