From Middle English wir, wyr, from Old English wīr, from Proto-Germanic *wīraz, from Proto-Indo-European *weh₁iros, from *weh₁y- ("to turn, twist, weave, plait").

• (British) IPA: /waɪə(ɹ)/
• (US) enPR: wīʹər, wīr, IPA: /ˈwaɪɚ/
• (Canada) IPA: /waɪ(ə)ɹ/, /wʌɪ(ə)ɹ/
  • (Ontario) IPA: [wäɪɚ], [wəɪɚ]

wire

1. (uncountable) Metal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die.
2. A piece of such material; a thread or slender rod of metal, a cable.
3. A metal conductor that carries electricity.
4. A fence made of usually barbed wire.
5. (sports) A finish line of a racetrack.
6. (informal) A telecommunication wire or cable.
   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     The episode began by a telephone ring in the morning and the voice of Algernon Mailey at the far end of the wire.

7. (by extension) An electric telegraph; a telegram.
   • c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC ↗, Act 1:

     Another letter. "Friedrichswerks, Hamburg, Germany. We beg to acknowledge receipt of order for fifteen thousand Robots." [Telephone rings.] Hello! This is the Central Office. Yes. Certainly. Well, send them a wire. Good. [Hangs up telephone.] Where did I leave off?

8. (slang) A hidden listening device on the person of an undercover operative for the purposes of obtaining incriminating spoken evidence.
9. (informal) A deadline or critical endpoint.

   This election is going to go right to the wire

10. (billiards) A wire strung with beads and hung horizontally above or near the table which is used to keep score.
11. (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.

    to pull the wires for office

12. (archaic, thieves' slang) A pickpocket, especially one who targets women.
13. (slang) A covert signal sent between people cheating in a card game.
14. (Scotland) A knitting needle.
15. 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

• French: fil
• German: Draht
• Italian: filo, filo metallico
• Portuguese: arame
• Russian: про́волока
• Spanish: alambre, hilo

• German: Draht, Ader
• Italian: filo elettrico, cavo, cavo elettrico
• Portuguese: fio
• Russian: про́вод
• Spanish: cable

• Italian: filo spinato

• Italian: traguardo, arrivo

• German: Wanze
• Italian: cimice, microspia
• Portuguese: escuta, grampo (Brazil)
• Russian: жучо́к

wire (wires, present participle wiring; simple past and past participle wired)

1. To fasten with wire, especially with reference to wine bottles, corks, or fencing.

   We need to wire that hole in the fence.

2. To string on a wire.

   wire beads

3. To equip with wires for use with electricity.

   Do you know how to wire a plug?

4. To connect, embed, incorporate, or include (something) into (something else) by or as if by wires:
   1. To add (something) into a system (especially an electrical system) by means of wiring.

      I'll just wire your camera to the computer screen.

   2. To add or connect (something) into a system as if with wires (for example, with nerves).
   3. To connect, involve or embed (something) deeply or intimately into (something else, such as an organization or political scene), so that it is plugged in or has insinuated itself into (the thing).
5. (figuratively, usually passive) To set or predetermine (someone's personality or behaviour, or an organization's culture) in a particular way.

   There's no use trying to get Sarah to be less excitable. That's just the way she's wired.

   • 1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 25 ↗:

     “‘Cept I do hurt people sometimes, Case. I guess it's just the way I'm wired.”

6. To send a message or monetary funds to another person through a telecommunications system, formerly predominantly by telegraph.

   Urgent: please wire me another 100 pounds sterling.

   The detective wired ahead, hoping that the fugitive would be caught at the railway station.

   • 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XLIX, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC ↗:

     Philip wired a succinct affirmative, and next morning a stranger presented himself at the studio.

7. (slang) To make someone tense or psyched up. See also adjective wired.

   Coffee late at night wires me good and proper.

8. (slang) To install eavesdropping equipment.

   We wired the suspect's house.

9. To snare by means of a wire or wires.
10. (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

• (antonym(s) of “to fasten with wire”): unwire

• Italian: fissare con filo metallico

• Italian: infilzare

• Italian: stendere fili elettrici, installare impianto elettrico, elettrificare

• Italian: collegare tramite cavo

• German: Geld überweisen
• Italian: telegrafare

• Italian: eccitare, gasare, avere nervi a fior di pelle

• Italian: installare microspie

1. Surname.