3. (Mach.) A piece generally projecting from a rotating or swinging
piece, as an axle or rock shaft, for the purpose of raising stampers,
lifting rods, or the like, and leaving them to fall by their own
weight; a kind of cam.
4. (Firearms) A rod, or an attachment for a rod, for holding a rag with
which to wipe out the bore of the barrel.
Wir"ble (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wirbled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Wirbling
(?).] [Cf. Warble, Whirl.] To whirl; to eddy. [R.]
The waters went wirbling above and around.
Owen. Meredith.
Wirche (?), v. i. & t. To work [Obs.] Chaucer.
Wire (?), n. [OE. wir, AS. wir; akin to Icel. vrr, 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 gauge or gage.
(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 (Zoöl.), 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.
<! p. 1658 !>
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.