n. [ OE. wir, AS. wir; akin to Icel. vīrr, Dan. vire, LG. wir, wire; cf. OHG. wiara fine gold; perhaps akin to E. withy. √141. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A telegraph wire or cable; hence, an electric telegraph; as, to send a message by wire. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. 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; -- in this sense, synonymous with strings. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

4. One who picks women's pockets. [ Thieves' Slang ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

5. A knitting needle. [ Scot. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

6. A wire stretching across over a race track at the judges' stand, to mark the line at which the races end. [ Racing Cant ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

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
Wire 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 (Zool.), 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. --
down to the wire, up to the last moment, as in a race or competition; as, the two front runners were neck-and-neck down to the wire. From wire{ 6 }. --
under the wire, just in time; shortly before the deadline; as, to file an application just under the wire. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To pass like a wire; to flow in a wirelike form, or in a tenuous stream. [ R. ] P. Fletcher. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To send a telegraphic message. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To put upon a wire; as, to wire beads. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To snare by means of a wire or wires. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To send (a message) by telegraph. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Croquet) To place (a ball) so that the wire of a wicket prevents a successful shot. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

6. to equip with a system of wiring, especially for supply of electrical power or communication; as, to wire an office for networking the computers; to wire a building with 220-Volt current. [ PJC ]

7. to equip with an electronic system for eavesdropping; to bug; as, to wire the office of a mob boss; to wire an informant so as to record his conversations. [ PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. Wiredrew p. p. Wiredrawn p. pr. & vb. n. Wiredrawing. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To form (a piece of metal) into wire, by drawing it through a hole in a plate of steel. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, to draw by art or violence. [ 1913 Webster ]

My sense has been wiredrawn into blasphemy. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence, also, to draw or spin out to great length and tenuity; as, to wiredraw an argument. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such twisting, such wiredrawing, was never seen in a court of justice. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Steam Engine) To pass, or to draw off, (as steam) through narrow ports, or the like, thus reducing its pressure or force by friction. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who draws metal into wire. [ 1913 Webster ]

. same as Wire-wound gun. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Far.) A disease in the feet of a horse or other beast. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Short for Wireless telegraphy, Wireless telephony, etc.; as, to send a message by wireless. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Having no wire; specif. (Elec.), designating, or pertaining to, a method of telegraphy, telephony, or other information transmisssion, in which the messages, data, etc., are transmitted through space by electric waves; as, a wireless message; a wireless network; a wireless keyboard. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

--
Wireless telegraphy or
Wireless telegraph (Elec.), any system of telegraphy employing no connecting wire or wires between the transmitting and receiving stations. Although more or less successful researchers were made on the subject by Joseph Henry, Hertz, Oliver Lodge, and others, the first commercially successful system was that of Guglielmo Marconi, patented in March, 1897. Marconi employed electric waves of high frequency set up by an induction coil in an oscillator, these waves being launched into space through a lofty antenna. The receiving apparatus consisted of another antenna in circuit with a coherer and small battery for operating through a relay the ordinary telegraphic receiver. This apparatus contains the essential features of all the systems now in use. --
Wireless telephone, an apparatus or contrivance for wireless telephony. --
Wireless telephony, telephony without wires, usually employing electric waves of high frequency emitted from an oscillator or generator, as in wireless telegraphy. A telephone transmitter causes fluctuations in these waves, it being the fluctuations only which affect the receiver. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. One who pulls the wires, as of a puppet; hence, one who uses secret influence (i.e. pulls wires or strings) for his own ends; an intriguer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Political wire-pullers and convention packers. Lowell. [ 1913 Webster ]