To Iceberg Slim and his contemporaries, this was a jivespeak term that meant 'information', or 'message'. Getting the wire on an impending roust meant you had a good fix.

Today, it is also used as a verb that means 'to send money', i.e. Your paycheck is wired to your account.

Graham Lewis, Bruce Gilbert, Colin Newman, Robert Gotobed. Early English punk band, perhaps The Beatles of poonk (certainly "Map Ref 41°N 93°W" from 154 was catchy as hell), minus those irrelevant things like fame/fortune and teen appeal. Had the decency to grow up and evolve (even to this day), rather than serve up refried "12XU" on every LP. "Reuters" and "Practice Makes Perfect" were almost cinematic, in an era when many peers were busy manicuring their "alienation".

In scenic and property construction there are a variety of purposes that wire is used for. There are two main types of wire used in theatre. The first of these is Stovepipe wire. The second is piano wire.

Stovepipe wire is made of soft iron. Generally this type of wire is black in color. It is approximately one-sixteenth of an inch (1.59 mm) in diameter. The main reason it is used is because it is quite flexible. The main drawback is that it has very little tensile strength. The primary use of stovepipe in technical theater is to tie or wire things together. This type of wire should never be used to fly scenery. This is because of the tensile weakness. It just is not strong enough to support any kind of load, and since a broken fly wire would likely mean that scenery would come crashing down onto the stage or even out into the audience, using this type of wire for anything besides tying objects together could be a deadly mistake.

Baling wire is a slightly thicker form of stovepipe wire. Stovepipe wire is also often known as soft-iron wire. Sometimes this type of wire is manufactured with a galvanized finish. This is done to help prevent the wire from rusting.

Piano wire is made of spring steel. This is the type of wire that is most commonly used to fly scenery. The reason for this is that piano wire has remarkable tensile strength, especially when you compare it to its diameter. The downside is that special care must be taken not to make sharp bends in this type of wire. The reason for this is that kinking reduces the wire’s strength tremendously.


Source:
Gillette, J. Michael. Theatrical Design and Production. 4th ed. Mountain View: Mayfield, 1999.

Wire (?), n. [OE. wir, AS. wir; akin to Icel. virr, Dan. vire, LG. wir, wire; cf. OHG. wiara fine gold; perhaps akin to E. withy. .]

1.

A thread or slender rod of metal; a metallic substance formed to an even thread by being passed between grooved rollers, or drawn through holes in a plate of steel.

⇒ Wire is made of any desired form, as round, square, triangular, etc., by giving this shape to the hole in the drawplate, or between the rollers.

2.

A telegraph wire or cable; hence, an electric telegraph; as, to send a message by wire.

[Colloq.]

Wire bed, Wire mattress, an elastic bed bottom or mattress made of wires interwoven or looped together in various ways. -- Wire bridge, a bridge suspended from wires, or cables made of wire. -- Wire cartridge, a shot cartridge having the shot inclosed in a wire cage. -- Wire cloth, a coarse cloth made of woven metallic wire, -- used for strainers, and for various other purposes. -- Wire edge, the thin, wirelike thread of metal sometimes formed on the edge of a tool by the stone in sharpening it. -- Wire fence, a fence consisting of posts with strained horizontal wires, wire netting, or other wirework, between. -- 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. -- Wire gauze, a texture of finely interwoven wire, resembling gauze. -- Wire grass Bot., either of the two common grasses Eleusine Indica, valuable for hay and pasture, and Poa compressa, or blue grass. See Blue grass. -- Wire grub Zool., a wireworm. -- Wire iron, wire rods of iron. -- Wire lathing, wire cloth or wire netting applied in the place of wooden lathing for holding plastering. -- Wire mattress. See Wire bed, above. -- Wire micrometer, a micrometer having spider lines, or fine wires, across the field of the instrument. -- Wire nail, a nail formed of a piece of wire which is headed and pointed. -- Wire netting, a texture of woven wire coarser than ordinary wire gauze. -- Wire rod, a metal rod from which wire is formed by drawing. -- Wire rope, a rope formed wholly, or in great part, of wires.

 

© Webster 1913.


Wire (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wired (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Wiring.]

1.

To bind with wire; to attach with wires; to apply wire to; as, to wire corks in bottling liquors.

2.

To put upon a wire; as, to wire beads.

3.

To snare by means of a wire or wires.

4.

To send (a message) by telegraph.

[Colloq.]

 

© Webster 1913.


Wire, v. i.

1.

To pass like a wire; to flow in a wirelike form, or in a tenuous stream.

[R.]

P. Fletcher.

2.

To send a telegraphic message.

[Colloq.]

 

© Webster 1913.


Wire (?), n.

1. Chiefly in pl.

The system of wires used to operate the puppets in a puppet show; hence (Chiefly Political Slang),

the network of hidden influences controlling the action of a person or organization; as, to pull the wires for office.

2.

One who picks women's pockets. [Thieves' Slang]

3.

A knitting needle. [Scot.]

4.

A wire stretching across over a race track at the judges' stand, to mark the line at which the races end. [Racing Cant]

 

© Webster 1913


Wire, v. t. (Croquet)

To place (a ball) so that the wire of a wicket prevents a successful shot.

 

© Webster 1913

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