wire : Idioms & Phrases


baling wire

  • noun wire used to make bales
WordNet

Barbed wire

  • noun strong wire with barbs at regular intervals used to prevent passage
    barbwire.
WordNet
  • a wire, or a strand of twisted wires, armed with barbs or sharp points. It is used for fences.
Webster 1913

Brussels wire ground

  • a ground for lace, made of silk, with meshes partly straight and partly arched.
Webster 1913

chicken wire

  • noun a galvanized wire network with a hexagonal mesh; used to build fences
WordNet

conducting wire

  • noun a metal conductor that carries electricity over a distance
    wire.
WordNet

cross wire

  • noun either of two fine mutually perpendicular lines that cross in the focus plane of an optical instrument and are use for sighting or calibration
    cross hair; cross wire.
    • he had the target in his cross hairs
WordNet

Cross wires

  • noun either of two fine mutually perpendicular lines that cross in the focus plane of an optical instrument and are use for sighting or calibration
    cross hair; cross wire.
    • he had the target in his cross hairs
WordNet
  • fine wires made to traverse the field of view in a telescope, and moved by a screw with a graduated head, used for delicate astronomical observations; spider lines. Fixed cross wires are also used in microscopes, etc.
Webster 1913

guy wire

  • noun a cable, wire, or rope that is used to brace something (especially a tent)
    guy rope; guy; guy cable.
WordNet

high wire

  • noun a tightrope very high above the ground
WordNet

hot-wire

  • verb start (a car engine) without a key by bypassing the ignition interlock
    • The woman who lost the car keys had to hot-wire her van
WordNet

Insulated wire

  • wire wound with silk, or covered with other nonconducting material, for electrical use.
Webster 1913

live wire

  • noun an alert and energetic person
    sharpy; eager beaver; sharpie; busy bee.
WordNet

malheur wire lettuce

  • noun a small plant of Oregon resembling mustard; a threatened species
    Stephanomeria malheurensis.
WordNet

Parallax of the cross wires

  • (of an optical instrument), their apparent displacement when the eye changes its position, caused by their not being exactly in the focus of the object glass.
Webster 1913

piano wire

  • noun thin steel wire of high tensile strength
WordNet

Pinion wire

  • wire fluted longitudinally, for making the pinions of clocks and watches. It is formed by being drawn through holes of the shape required for the leaves or teeth of the pinions.
Webster 1913

Priming wire

  • a pointed wire used to penetrate the vent of a piece, for piercing the cartridge before priming.
Webster 1913

pull wires

  • verb influence or control shrewdly or deviously
    pull strings; manipulate.
    • He manipulated public opinion in his favor
WordNet

telegraph wire

  • noun the wire that carries telegraph and telephone signals
    telegraph line; telegraph wire; telephone line.
WordNet

telephone wire

  • noun the wire that carries telegraph and telephone signals
    telegraph line; telegraph wire; telephone line.
WordNet

trip wire

  • noun a small military force that serves as a first line of defense; if they become engaged in hostilities it will trigger the intervention of stronger military forces
  • noun a wire stretched close to the ground that activates something (a trap or camera or weapon) when tripped over
WordNet

Wire bed, Wire mattress

  • an elastic bed bottom or mattress made of wires interwoven or looped together in various ways.
Webster 1913

Wire bridge

  • a bridge suspended from wires, or cables made of wire.
Webster 1913

Wire cartridge

  • a shot cartridge having the shot inclosed in a wire cage.
Webster 1913

Wire cloth

  • noun fabric woven of metallic wire
WordNet
  • a coarse cloth made of woven metallic wire, used for strainers, and for various other purposes.
Webster 1913

wire cutter

  • noun an edge tool used in cutting wire
WordNet

Wire edge

  • the thin, wirelike thread of metal sometimes formed on the edge of a tool by the stone in sharpening it.
Webster 1913

Wire fence

  • a fence consisting of posts with strained horizontal wires, wire netting, or other wirework, between.
Webster 1913

wire gage

  • noun gauge for measuring the diameter of wire
    wire gage.
WordNet

wire gauge

  • noun gauge for measuring the diameter of wire
    wire gage.
WordNet

Wire gaugegage

  • . (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.
Webster 1913

Wire gauze

  • a texture of finely interwoven wire, resembling gauze.
Webster 1913

wire glass

  • noun a glass that contains a layer of wire netting in it
WordNet

Wire grass

  • noun handsome hardy North American grass with foliage turning pale bronze in autumn
    Schizachyrium scoparium; prairie grass; broom beard grass; Andropogon scoparius.
  • noun coarse annual grass having fingerlike spikes of flowers; native to Old World tropics; a naturalized weed elsewhere
    Eleusine indica; goose grass; yard grass; yardgrass.
WordNet
  • (Bot.), either of the two common grasses Eleusine Indica, valuable for hay and pasture, and Poa compressa, or blue grass. See Blue grass.
Webster 1913

Wire grub

  • (Zoöl.), a wireworm.
Webster 1913

Wire iron

  • wire rods of iron.
Webster 1913

Wire lathing

  • wire cloth or wire netting applied in the place of wooden lathing for holding plastering.
Webster 1913

wire matrix printer

  • noun an impact printer in which each character is represented by a pattern of dots made by wires or styli
    wire matrix printer; stylus printer.
WordNet

Wire mattress

  • . See Wire bed, above.
Webster 1913

Wire micrometer

  • a micrometer having spider lines, or fine wires, across the field of the instrument.
Webster 1913

Wire nail

  • a nail formed of a piece of wire which is headed and pointed.
Webster 1913

Wire netting

  • a texture of woven wire coarser than ordinary wire gauze.
Webster 1913

wire printer

  • noun an impact printer in which each character is represented by a pattern of dots made by wires or styli
    wire matrix printer; stylus printer.
WordNet

wire recorder

  • noun an early type of magnetic recorder using iron wire
WordNet

Wire rod

  • a metal rod from which wire is formed by drawing.
Webster 1913

Wire rope

  • a rope formed wholly, or in great part, of wires.
Webster 1913

wire service

  • noun an agency to collects news reports for newspapers and distributes it electronically
    press association; press agency; news organization; news agency; news organisation.
WordNet

wire stripper

  • noun a hand tool used by electricians to remove insulation from the cut end of an insulated wire
WordNet

wire wool

  • noun a mass of woven steel fibers used as an abrasive
    steel wool.
WordNet

wire-drawer

Wire"-draw`er noun
Definitions
  1. One who draws metal into wire.
Webster 1913

wire-haired

  • adjective satellite (especially of dogs) having stiff wiry hair
    wiry-coated.
    • a wire-haired terrier
WordNet

wire-haired fox terrier

  • noun a fox terrier with wiry hair
WordNet

wire-haired pointing griffon

  • noun breed of medium-sized long-headed dogs with downy undercoat and harsh wiry outer coat; originated in Holland but largely developed in France
    griffon.
WordNet

wire-haired terrier

  • noun a terrier with wiry hair
    wirehaired terrier; wirehair.
WordNet

wire-heel

Wire"-heel` noun
Definitions
  1. (Far.) A disease in the feet of a horse or other beast.
Webster 1913

wire-puller

  • noun one who uses secret influence (i.e. pulls wires or strings) for his own ends
WordNet
Wire"-pull`er noun
Definitions
  1. One who pulls the wires, as of a puppet; hence, one who operates by secret means; an intriguer.
    Political wire-pullers and convention packers. Lowell.
Webster 1913

wire-pulling

Wire"-pull`ing noun
Definitions
  1. The act of pulling the wires, as of a puppet; hence, secret influence or management, especially in politics; intrigue.
Webster 1913

wire-tailed

Wire"-tailed` adjective
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) Having some or all of the tail quills terminated in a long, slender, pointed shaft, without a web or barbules.
Webster 1913

wire-worker

Wire"-work`er noun
Definitions
  1. One who manufactures articles from wire.
Webster 1913

wiring diagram

  • noun a schematic drawing of the wiring of an electrical system
WordNet