wire 
6946 
3. To send through a telegraphic wire ; send by 
telegraph, as a message; telegraph: as, wire a 
reply. [CoUoq.] 
The coronation of the Emperor of Austria as King of 
Hungary, the canonization of saints of Rome, were . . . 
cabled to New Yorlt, just as the Washington news is wired 
to the same place. Alhetixum, No. 2154, p. 207. 
4. To be wound or bound about like wire ; en- 
circle. [Rare.] 
But, as the Vine her lovely Elm doth iinre, 
Grasp both our Hearts, and flame with fresh Desire. 
Howell, Letters, I. i. 14. 
5. In surg., to maintain the ends of (a fractured 
bone) in close apposition by means of wire 
passed through holes drilled in the bone 
H. intrans. \ " " 
wire. [Rare.] 
Then in small streams (through all the isle wiring) 
Sends it to every part, both heat and life inspiring. 
P. Fletcher, Purple Island, iv. 
2. To communicate by means of a telegi'aphic 
wire ; telegraph. 
I told her in what way I had learned of her accident 
and her whereabouts, and I added that I had wired to 
her husband. D. Christie Murray, Wealier Vessel, xjLxiil. 
To wire away. Same as to wire in. [Slang.] 
Nevertheless, in one fashion or another he "keeps wir- 
ing away," stopping now and then to listen as well as his 
throbbing pulses will allow. 
FortnighUy Rev., N. S., XLIII.93. 
To Wire In, to apply one's self closely and perseveringly 
to anything ; press forward ; go ahead. [Slang.] 
wire'-^ (wir), n. A corruption of weir. 
wire-bent (wir'bent), «. Same as mat-grass, 2. 
wire-bird (wir'b^rd), n. A species of plover. 
[At St. Helena] are a few Wild Goata, a kind of Rock 
Pigeon, and a species of Plover called the " Wire Bird." 
W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 657. 
wire-cutter (wir'kut'er), n. A form of nippers 
with sharp edges or blades, for cutting wire. 
wired (wird), «. [<.%oire + -e(P.'] X.lnormth., 
having wires or wiry feathers : chiefly in com- 
position : as, the twelve-it'irerf bird of paradise. 
Compare wire-tailed, and see wirt'l, «., 6, and 
cuts under Seleticides, thread-tailed, TrocMKdse, 
and Videstrdda. — 2. In croquet, protected or 
obstructed by an intervening wire. 
wire-dancer (wir'dan"ser), n. One who dances 
or performs other feats upon a wire stretched 
at some distance above the ground. Compare 
rope-dancer. 
Mr. Maddox, the celebrated wire-dancer, . . . had also 
been engaged as an auxiliary to the same theatre. 
Baker, Blographia Dramatica (ed. 1811), I. 127. 
wire-dancing (wir'dan"siug), «. The perform- 
ance or the profession of a wire-dancer. 
Wire-dancing, at least so much of it as I have seen ex- 
hibited, appears to me to be misnamed ; it consists rather 
of various feats of balancing, the actor sitting, standing, 
lying, or walking upon the wire, which at the same time 
is usually swung backwards and forwards. 
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 316. 
wiredraw (wir'dra), v. ; pret. wiredrew, pp. icire- 
drawn, ppr. wiredrawing. I. trans. 1. To draw 
(metal) out into wire ; especially, to form into 
wire, as a metal, by forcibly pulling through 
a series of holes gradually decreasing in diame- 
ter. — 2. To draw out to greater length ; extend 
in quantity or time ; stretch, especially to ex- 
cess; prolong; protract. 
A hungry chirurgeon often produces and wire-draws 
his cure. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 276. 
and my sense been 
Dryden. 
I have been wrongfully accused 
wiredrawn into blasphemy. 
5. To beguile; cheat. 
To Wire draw, ... to decoy a Man, or get somewhat 
out of him. Bailey, 1731. 
6. In the steam-engine, to draw ofif (steam) by 
one or more small apertures, materially redu- 
cing its pressure after the passage. 
n. intrans. To follow the profession, prac- 
tice, or methods of a wiredrawer; especially, 
to use unwarrantable methods ; pervert ; cheat. 
Thou hadst land and thousands, which thou spend'st. 
And flung'st away, and yet it flows in double. 
I purchas'd, wrung, and wire-draw'd for my wealth, 
Lost, and was cozen'd. Beau, and Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 
To ilow in currents as thin as wiredrawer {ytlv'Avk'kr), n. [< xoiredraw + 
-eel.] 1. One who or that which draws metal 
into wire. 
Yet they will take upon them to displace a bishop and 
learned divines, and place in their room weavers and 
wire-drawers. Tom Hash his Ghost, p. 9. 
Then again they [wires] are nealed the third time, . . . 
and delivered to the small Wire Drawers. 
Ray, Eng. Words (ed. 1691), p. 195. 
2. Figuratively, one who spins out unduly; 
one who carries a matter into useless subtle- 
ties, with or without perversion of meaning. 
Either shut me out for a Wrangler, or cast me off for a 
Wiredrawer. Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 106. 
3. A stingy, grasping person. Salliicell. 
wiredrawing (wir'dra"ing), u. [Verbal n. of 
wiredraw, r.] 1. The act or art of extending 
ductile metals into wire. The metal is first ham- 
mered into a bar, and then passed successively through 
a series of holes in a hardened steel plate, gradually di- 
minishing in dianjeter until the requisite degree of flne- 
wirework 
wire-micrometer (wlr'mi-krom'e-tfer), n. A 
micrometer with fine wires arranged in paral- 
lel and intersecting series across the field of 
the instrument. 
wire-pan (wir'pan), «. A pan with a bottom 
made of wire cloth, used tor baking cake, etc. 
wire-pegger (wir'peg'er), n. In sfioe-manuf., 
a nailing- or peggmg-machine for cutting wire 
pegs from a continuous wire and driving them 
into shoe-soles ; a wire-nailing machine. Com- 
pare pegger and nailing-machine. 
wire-puller (wir'pul"er), n. 1. One who pulls 
the wires, as of a puppet. Hence — 2. Onewho 
operates by secret means ; one who exercises a 
powerful but secret influence ; an intriguer. 
It was useless now to bribe the Comitia, to work with 
clubs and wire-pullers. Fraude, Ctesar, p. 369. 
One of the great English political parties, and naturally 
the party supporting the Government in power, holds a 
Conference of gentlemen to whom I hope I may without 
offense apply the American name wire-pullers. 
Maine, Pop. Government^ iv. 
wire-pulling (wir'pul"ing), «. 1. The act of 
pulling the wires, as of a puppet or other me- 
chanical contrivance. Hence — 2. The rous- 
ing, guiding, and controlling of any organiza- 
tion or body of persons, especially a political 
party, by underhand influence or management; 
intrigue, especially political intrigue. 
wirer (wir'fer), n. [< wire + -erl.] One who 
wires ; specifically, one who uses wires to snare 
game. 
The nightly wirer of their innocent hare. 
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field. 
wire-road (wir'r6d),«. Same as inreicay. E. B. 
Knight. 
ness is attained. Extremely fine gold and platinum wires vrirC-Sewed (wir'sod), a. Sewed with wire in- 
fer the spider-lines of telescope-micrometers are formed gj^ad of thread: noting books and pamphlets. 
by coating the metal with silver, and then drawmg^.^t^own ^rC-ShaftCd (wir'shaf'ted), a. Devoid of webs 
to a great tenuity through a draw-plate the holes 
are made in a diamond or ruby. The silver is then re- 
moved by nitric acid, leaving an almost invisible interior 
wire, which has been attenuated to a diameter of only 
nJoo inch. „ , . 
2. Figuratively, the act of drawing out an argu- 
ment or a discussion to prolixity and attenua- 
tion by useless refinements, distinctions, dis- 
quisitions, etc. 
The counsel on the other side declared that such twist- 
ing, such wiredrawiwj, was never seen in a court of jus- 
tice. Macatdai/. 
Outof all that rubbish of Arab idolatries, . . . rumours 
and hypotheses of Greek and Jews, with their idle wire- 
drawings, this wild man of the Desert [Mahomet] . . . had 
seen into the kernel of the matter. 
Carlyle, Hero- Worship, ii. 
Wlredrawlng-benoh, an apparatus forwiredrawing, con- 
sisting of a reel on which the wire to be drawn is wound, 
a draw-plate and stand, and a cone-shaped drum actuated 
by bevel-gearing. 
for most or all the length of its shaft, as a 
feather; wired, as a bird. See wire-taiTerf, and 
cut under Seleticides. 
wire-silver (wir'sil"v#r), «. Native silver in 
slender wire-like forms. 
wiresmith (wir'smith), n. One who makes 
metal into wire, especially by beating or ham- 
mering. 
Wire was obtained by hammering up strips of metal, 
and the artificers thus employed were termed in the trade 
imresmiths. The Engineer, LXVII. 209. 
wire-stitched (wir'sticht), a. Noting pam- 
phlets, etc., that are fastened with wire. 
wire-Straightener (wir'strafner), «. An ap- 
paratus for removing bends from wire, as from 
that which has been coiled. The wire is pulled 
forcibly between three or more fixed points not 
in line. 
wire-edge (wir'ej), «. A thin, wire-like edge vrire-stretcher (wir'strech'er), «. A hand-tool 
formed on a cutting-tool by over-sharpening it for clasping the loose ends of wires in fences 
on one side, which causes the edge to turn over and telegraph-wires, for the purpose of holding 
slightly toward the other side. and drawing them together to make a joint. 
wire-edged (wir'ejd), (I. Having a wire-edge, wire-tailed (wir'tald), a. Having wiry or wire- 
The tool to be ground . . . will . . .become wire-edged, shafted tail-feathers, as the thread-tailed swal 
Cmnpin, Hand-turning, p. 41 
wire-flnder (wir'fin"der), n. A kind of tele- 
phonic detector employed to find the wires be- 
longing to different circuits, etc. It has a mag- 
net between the poles of which the wire is held ; near the 
magnet is a short ear-tnbe with ferrotype diaphragm; 
and a pulsating or interrupted current sent through the 
wire causes the diaphragm to sound. 
wire-gage (wir'gaj), n. See gage'^. 
He never desisted from pulling his Beard till he had -ynre-graSS (wir'gras), ». 1. A species of mea- 
jorecfra™ it down to his Keet dow-grass, Poa compressa, native in the Old 
MaundreU, Aleppo to .lerusalem, p. 42. 
3. To draw out into excessive tenuity or sub- 
tlety, as a thought, argument, or discourse ; 
spin out, especially by useless refinements, 
hair-splitting, or the like ; render prolix at the 
expense of force and clearness. 
The devil perhaps may want his due if authority be not 
reviled against, and a long schismatical oration hypocriti- 
cally stretched out to the rabble of their disobedient and 
unlicked auditors, who ... do extol the vapourous mat- 
ter with a wire-drawn speech and louting courtesy. 
Tmn Nash his Ghost, p. 8. 
What they call improvement is generally . . . spinning 
out their Author's sense till 'tis uiredrawjl ; that is, weak 
and slender. Felton, On the Classicks (ed. 1715), p. 163. 
The development of those principles [special pleading] 
produced such a . . . crop of . . . wiredrawn distinctions 
that the most subtle intellect found it difficult to under- 
stand them. Forsyth, Hortensius, p. 341. 
4. To stretch or strain unwarrantably; wre.st; 
pervert; distort. 
You injuriously Wire-draw him to Presl)yter8. and foist 
in (Seniores and prajpositos) which are farre from the 
clause and matter. Bp. Hall, I>ef. of llumb. Remunst., § 8. 
Nor am I for forcing, or wiredrawing the sense of the 
text so as to make it designedly foretell the King's death. 
.So?((A, Sermons, V. ii. 
World, naturalized in North Amenca. It is some- 
times mistaken for the Kentucky blue-grass, Poa pratcn- 
sis, but is well distinguished by its shorter leaves and 
smaller dense panicle, and its flattened wiry culms which 
are decumbent and less tall. Also called English blue- 
grass. 
2. A valued forage gi-ass, Eleusine Indica, per- 
haps native in India, now widely distributed in 
warm and temperate regions: it is common 
southward in the United States. It has thick 
succulent stems with radiating spikes at the summit. 
Also crab-grass, yard-grass, and dogs-tail. 
3. One of various other grasses, as the Bermuda 
grass, Cynodon Dactylon (see grass), Sporoholus 
junccus, and species of Aristida in the southern 
United States, and Paspahtm filiformi- in the 
West Indies. 
■wiregrub (wir'grub), «. A wireworm. 
low, Uromitus filiferus. See cuts under thread- 
tailed, Trochilidse, Videstrelda, and Vidtui. 
'Wire-tramway ( wir'tram'wa), ». Same as irirf- 
iray. E. H. Knight. 
'wire-t'Wist (wir'twisf), «. A kind of gun-bar- 
rel made of a ribbon of iron and steel coiled 
around a mandrel and welded. The ribbon is made 
by welding together lamina of iron and steel, or two qual- 
ities of iron, and drawing the resulting bar between roll- 
ers. E. H. Knight. 
wireway (wir'wa), ». A system of transpor- 
tation by the agency of traveling or stationary 
wires. Wireways are used for carrying stone, ores, clay, 
coal, etc. , from mines to docks or railroad stations, or from 
docks to coal-yards, or from sewage construction-works to 
docks or dumping-grounds, etc. The most common form 
is an endless traveling wire rope, supported on posts placed 
at intervals along the way, or, in some instances, supported 
only at each end, as in the crossing of rivers or ravines, or 
the descentof mountain-sides. Smallerways employ fixed 
wires on which travel light baskets for conveying money 
and packages in shops. In the traveling-wire systems the 
freight is placed in buckets or skips hung on the wire and 
traveling along with it Arrangements are made for auto- 
matic loading, starting, stopping, unloading, and switch- 
ing to branch wires. Some of the traveling-wire lines 
used in mines are several miles long. In short lines, as 
in cash-carrier systems, the traveling basket, ball, or car is 
sometimes moved by raising one end of the wire, when the 
car rolls down to the cashier's desk. See cash-carrier and 
telpherage. Also called uire-road, wire-tramuxiy._ 
Wireleel («-ir'hel), «. A certain defect and Wire-weed (mr-wed,n. The kno -grass P^yfiro- 
disease in the feet of a horse or other beast 
'Wireman (wir'man), «.; pi. wiremen (-men). 
A man who puts up and looks after wires, as 
for the telegraph, telephone, or electric light- 
ing. 
Linemen and wiremen were in great demand in New 
York last week. Elect. Rev. (Amer.). XVII. 286. 
««)H aviculare. Britten and Holland. [Prov. 
Eng.] 
'Wirework (-nir'werk), n. [= Icel. rira-rirki, 
wirework, filigree-work; as inrel + worl; «.] 
Fabrics made of wire, such as wire gauze and 
wire cloth, or objects made of wire, such as 
bird-cages and sponge-racks. 
