Definition of: wire

(wīr) noun
1. A slender rod, strand, or thread of ductile metal, usually formed by drawing through dies or holes.
2. Something made of wire, as a fence, a bar of a cage, or a snare made for catching small animals.
3. A telegraph cable.
4. The telegraph system as a means of communication.
5. A telegram.
6. The screen of a papermaking machine.
7. A fine metallic thread, a cobweb, or one of a set of ruled lines, in the focus of a telescope.
8. Ornithol. A long slender filament of the plumage of various birds.
9. plural A secret means of exerting influence: to pull the wires: from the analogy with the system of hidden wires by which puppets are operated.
10. An imaginary line marking the finish of a racecourse.
—to lay wires for To prepare for.
—under wire Fenced.
—v. wired, wir·ing v.t.
1. To fasten with wire.
2. To furnish or equip with wiring: The studio was wired for sound.
3. In croquet, to place (a ball) so that the wire of an arch will be between it and another ball.
4. To catch, as a rabbit, with a snare of wire.
5. Colloq. To transmit or send by electric telegraph: to wire an order.
6. Colloq. To send a telegram to: Will you wire John?
7. To place on wire, as beads.
—v.i.
8. Colloq. To telegraph. [OE wīr]