wire

Wire is metal that is in very thin threads or rods, or something made of such a substance, or is slang for a hidden recording device.

(noun)

An example of wire is a thin round thread used to make a netting.
An example of wire is a telephone cable.
An example of a wire is a microphone hidden in a shirt of an undercover police officer.

The definition of wire is made of metal in long, thin rods or threads.

(adjective)

An example of wire used as an adjective is in the phrase "wire fence," which means a fence made of such material.

See wire in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

metal that has been drawn into a very long, thin thread or rod, usually circular in cross section
a length of this, used for various purposes, such as conducting electric current or stringing musical instruments
wire netting or other wirework
anything made of wire or wirework, as a telephone cable, a barbed-wire fence, or a snare
1. telegraph: reply by wire
2. a telegram
Slang a concealed microphone or recording device, carried or worn as for espionage or by undercover police
☆ Horse Racing a wire above the finish line of a race

Origin: ME < OE wir, akin to LowG wīr < IE *weir- < base *wei-, to bend, turn > withe, Gr iris, rainbow, L vitis, vine

adjective

made of wire or wirework

transitive verb wired, wiring

intransitive verb

to telegraph

Related Forms:

See wire in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

A usually pliable metallic strand or rod made in many lengths and diameters, sometimes clad and often electrically insulated, used chiefly for structural support or to conduct electricity.
A group of wire strands bundled or twisted together as a functional unit; cable.
Something resembling a wire, as in slenderness or stiffness.
An open telephone connection.
Slang A hidden microphone, as on a person's body or in a building.
a. A telegraph service.
b. A telegram or cablegram.
A wire service.
Computer Science A pin in the print head of a computer printer.
The screen on which sheets of paper are formed in a papermaking machine.
Sports The finish line of a racetrack.
wires
a. The system of strings employed in manipulating puppets in a show.
b. Hidden controlling influences.
Slang A pickpocket.
Fencing made of usually barbed wire.

verb wired wired, wir·ing, wires

verb, transitive

To bind, connect, or attach with wires or a wire.
To string (beads, for example) on wire.
To equip with a system of electrical wires.
Slang To install electronic eavesdropping equipment in (a room, for example).
To send by telegraph: wired her congratulations.
To send a telegram to.
Computer Science To implement (a capability) through logic circuitry that is permanently connected within a computer or calculator and therefore not subject to change by programming.
To determine or put into effect by physiological or neurological mechanisms; hard-wire: “It is plausible that the basic organization of grammar is wired into the child's brain” (Steven Pinker).