wire
(noun) ligament made of metal and used to fasten things or make cages or fences etc
wire, conducting wire
(noun) a metal conductor that carries electricity over a distance
telegram, wire
(noun) a message transmitted by telegraph
wire
(noun) the finishing line on a racetrack
electrify, wire
(verb) equip for use with electricity; “electrify an appliance”
cable, telegraph, wire
(verb) send cables, wires, or telegrams
wire
(verb) fasten with wire; “The columns were wired to the beams for support”
wire
(verb) string on a wire; “wire beads”
wire
(verb) provide with electrical circuits; “wire the addition to the house”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
wire (countable and uncountable, plural wires)
(uncountable) Metal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die.
A piece of such material; a thread or slender rod of metal, a cable.
A metal conductor that carries electricity.
A fence made of usually barbed wire.
(sports) A finish line of a racetrack.
(informal) A telecommunication wire or cable
(by extension) An electric telegraph; a telegram.
(slang) A hidden listening device on the person of an undercover operative for the purposes of obtaining incriminating spoken evidence.
(informal) A deadline or critical endpoint.
(billiards) A wire strung with beads and hung horizontally above or near the table which is used to keep score.
(usually, in the plural) 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.
(archaic, thieves' slang) A pickpocket who targets women.
(slang) A covert signal sent between people cheating in a card game.
(Scotland) A knitting needle.
The slender shaft of the plumage of certain birds.
• (thin thread of metal): cable, steel wire, thread
• (metal conductor that carries electricity): conducting wire
• (fencing made of usually barbed wire): barbed wire
• (informal: telegraph): See telegraph
• (informal: message transmitted by telegraph): See telegram
• (object used to keep the score in billiards): score string
• baling wire
• barbed wire
• chicken wire
• earth wire
• earthing wire
• enameled wire, enamelled wire
• fuse wire
• guy wire
• haywire
• live wire
• piano wire
• pull wire
• razor wire
• trawlwire
• tripwire
• woven wire
wire (third-person singular simple present wires, present participle wiring, simple past and past participle wired)
To fasten with wire, especially with reference to wine bottles, corks, or fencing.
To string on a wire.
To equip with wires for use with electricity.
To add something into an electrical system by means of wiring; to incorporate or include something.
To send a message or monetary funds to another person through a telecommunications system, formerly predominantly by telegraph.
To make someone tense or psyched up.
(slang) To install eavesdropping equipment.
To snare by means of a wire or wires.
(transitive, croquet) To place (a ball) so that the wire of a wicket prevents a successful shot.
• (equip for use with electricity): electrify
• (informal: send a message or funds by telecommunications): cable, telegraph
• (to fasten with wire): unwire
• (to fasten with wire): rewire
• (equip for use with electricity): rewire
• Weir, weir, wier
Wire (plural Wires)
A surname.
• According to the 2010 United States Census, Wire is the 19306th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 1402 individuals. Wire is most common among White (91.87%) individuals.
• Weir, weir, wier
Source: Wiktionary
Wire, n. Etym: [OE. wir, AS. wir; akin to Icel. virr, Dan. vire, LG. wir, wire; cf. OHG. wiara fine gold; perhaps akin to E. withy. .]
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.
Note: 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.
2. 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.
– 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 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 (Zoöl.), 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.
Wire, 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.
2. To put upon a wire; as, to wire beads.
3. To snare by means of a wire or wires.
4. To send (a message) by telegraph. [Colloq.]
Wire, v. i.
1. To pass like a wire; to flow in a wirelike form, or in a tenuous stream. [R.] P. Fletcher.
2. To send a telegraphic message. [Colloq.]
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
25 June 2025
(noun) a state of being confined (usually for a short time); “his detention was politically motivated”; “the prisoner is on hold”; “he is in the custody of police”
The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie,” borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve,” borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah.” The Arabic word qahwah was traditionally held to refer to a type of wine.
