The word wire has several related meanings:

A wire is a thin, flexible strand of metal, usually copper or steel, used to carry electricity or hold things together. Electric wires run through the walls of your house, bringing power to lights and outlets. A fence might use wire strung between posts to keep animals contained. Musicians play instruments with metal strings (a type of wire), and braces straighten teeth using thin wires that gradually shift them into place.

Before telephones and the internet, people sent messages over long distances using telegraphs, which transmitted signals through wires. When someone received an urgent message this way, they got a wire or a telegram. Today, we still use this meaning: wiring money means sending it electronically, even though the transaction happens through computer networks rather than actual metal wires. You might hear someone say, “The money should arrive by wire transfer.”

Wire also appears in the phrase down to the wire, meaning something continues until the very last moment. The expression comes from horse racing, where a wire marked the finish line. If a project is finished down to the wire, you're working on it until the deadline.

To wire something means to install electrical wiring in it, like wiring a new house so electricity reaches every room.