A wire is a single, usually cylindrical, flexible strand or rod of metal. Wires are used to bear mechanical loads and to carry electricity and telecommunications signals. Wire is commonly formed by drawing the metal through a hole in a die or draw plate. Standard sizes are determined by various wire gauges. The term wire is also used more loosely to refer to a bundle of such strands, as in 'multistranded wire', which is more correctly termed a wire rope in mechanics, or a cable in electricity.
Although usually circular in cross-section, wire can be made in square or flattened rectangular cross-section, either for decorative purposes, or for technical purposes such as high-efficiency voice coils in loudspeakers. Edge-wound coil springs, such as the slinky toy, are made of special flattened wire.
Read more about Wire: History, Uses, Production, Finishing, Jacketing, and Insulating, Solid Versus Stranded, Varieties
Famous quotes containing the word wire:
“Constantly risking absurdity
and death
whenever he performs
above the heads
of his audience
the poet like an acrobat
climbs on rime
to a high wire of his own making.”
—Lawrence Ferlinghetti (b. 1919)
“God, I am caught in a snare!
I know not what fine wire is round my throat;
I only know I let him finger there
My pulse of life, and let him nose like a stoat
Who sniffs with joy before he drinks the blood.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Constantly risking absurdity and death whenever he performs above the heads of his audience the poet like an acrobat climbs on rime to a high wire of his own making.”
—Lawrence Ferlinghetti (b. 1919)