wire-draw, v. Now rare.
(ˈwaɪədrɔː)
[Back-formation from wire-drawer.]
1. trans. To draw out (metal) into wire: see wire-drawing vbl. n. 1. rare.
| 1666 Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. 96 Though out of a wedge of Gold one cannot immediately make a Ring, yet by..Wyre-drawing that Wedge by degrees,..That thing may easily be effected. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Wire-draw, to draw out Gold or Silver-Thread. 1755 Johnson, To Wiredraw. 1. To spin into wire. 1828–32 Webster. |
2. transf. To draw out (a material thing) to an elongated form; to stretch, elongate.
| 1598 Florio, Stringare..to wyre-draw a thing. 1648 Hunting of Fox 23 To tug and wire-draw as Shoe-makers ordinarily do their leather between their hands and their teeth. 1656 R. Flecknoe Diarium 86 Such an art as his, Who wire-draw'd Simon to Simonides. Ibid. 92 But loath I am to stretch mine eares so far, As if they wire-drawn, or tenter'd were. 1656 F. Hawkins Youths Behav. (1661) 51 Perforations, through which Nature is wont to wyer draw spare humors into a fine spun excrescency [sc. hair]. a 1658 Cleveland London Lady 49 He wire-draws up his Jaws, and snuffs and grins. a 1701 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) 42 He never desisted from pulling his Beard, till he had wiredrawn it down to his Feet. 1849 D. J. Browne Amer. Poultry Yd. (1855) 163 The bird..has been actually wire-drawn. It has grown all the hours you have neglected it, without anything to grow from. |
b. To cause (steam or water) to pass through a small aperture, thereby diminishing its pressure.
| 1744 Desaguliers Course Exper. Philos. II. 522 It must not be taken for a general Rule, that Wire-drawing the Water, as it is call'd, is always a Fault. 1787 M. Boulton Let. to Jas. Watt 1 Oct., Briggan always expanded the steam, great Poldice wiredraws it, as the valve opens very little indeed. 1802 Specif. Trevethick's Patent No. 2599. 2 This passage has a throttle valve..to wiredraw the steam. |
3. fig. a. To draw or prolong to an inordinate length; to protract excessively, spin out.
| 1598 Florio, Puntare,..to wyre-draw any matter. 1611 Cotgr., Tardiver, to linger, foreslow, slacke, delay, wire⁓draw it. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. i. iv. i. 299 As an hungry Surgeon often doth prolong & wierdraw his cure so long as there is any hope of pay. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 40 His torments were so lengthened, and wire⁓drawne, to the end Christians might feele themselves dye. a 1693 Urquhart's Rabelais iii. xl. 332, I prorogate,..wyre⁓draw, and shift off the Time. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia i. iii, They may contrive to fill up the middle and end of the evening by wire-drawing the comments afforded by the beginning. 1785 in Grose Dict. Vulgar T. |
b. To draw out to an extreme tenuity; to reduce to a subtle fineness; to attenuate.
| 1660 Gauden God's Gt. Demonstr. 18 The superfluity of mans wit and eloquence glories to find out many inventions, definitions and distinctions, even in plain things; wire⁓drawing religion into fine threads. 1683 Cave Ecclesiastici 313 Having wiredrawn the Article concerning the Son of God into infinite Controversies and Disputes. 1796 Lamb Let. to Coleridge 13 June, Sonnets and all, they won't make a thousand lines as I propose completing 'em, and the substance must be wire-drawn. 1864 Lowell Biglow P. Introd., Poems 1890 II. 161 The school of Pope in verse ended by wire-drawing its phrase to such thinness that it could bear no weight of meaning whatever. |
c. To strain, force, or wrest by subtle argument or the like.
| 1610 Carleton Jurisd. 288 Such as would proue this Iurisdiction from certaine texts of Scripture, as:..oraui pro te Petre, &c. And such like which are wire-drawen to countenance this Papall Iurisdiction. 1653 Gauden Hierasp. 530 He needes not wiredraw his conscience, till it fits every State passage. 1663 South Serm. (1717) V. 59 Nor am I for forcing, or wiredrawing the Sense of the Text. 1687 Good Advice 59 For while a man is out of Office, he is Test-free, but the hour he is chosen to any station..he must wyredraw his Conscience to hold it. 1700 Dryden Fables Pref. *A 2, Where I have been wrongfully accus'd, and my Sense wire⁓drawn into Blasphemy or Bawdry. 1765 Wesley Let. 14 May, Do not wrest, and wiredraw, and colour my words. 1812–29 Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1838) III. 155 If our old divines..wire-drew their text, in the anxiety to evolve out of the words the fulness of the meaning. 1873 H. Rogers Orig. Bible iii. 115 Questions..which only tend to wiredraw the judgment. |
| absol. 1831 Emerson Jrnl. 25 Dec. (1909) II. 440 The rough and tumble old fellows, Bacons, Miltons, and Burkes don't wire-draw. |
† d. To draw, bring, get, induce, extract, introduce, etc. by some subtle device.
Obs.| 1633 Marmion Fine Comp. iii. i, Although her husband be penurious,..Yet she can make him malleable, and worke him, And turne, and hammer him, and wire-draw him. 1650 Stapylton tr. Strada's Low C. Wars ii. 46 The Prince of Orange,..to wyer-draw the whole business out of the King, takes upon him to have been privy to the plot. a 1662 Heylin Laud (1668) 482 It was no hard matter for the Houses of Parliament to wire-draw him by degrees to such Condescensions. 1705 in Perry Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch. (1870) I. 173 Among M{supr}. Commy's 5 Arguments..is wire-drawn in a Sly ill look't insinuation. a 1734 North Exam. i. iii. §26. (1740) 138, I grant that Matter very fit to be taken Notice of in the History of that Time; but then..truly, as it was, and not only, as here is done, to wire-draw a Reflection from it. 1748 Richardson Clarissa I. xliii. 303 If..I..suspected, that she sought only to gain time, in order to wire-draw me into a consent. |
† e. To draw or spin out
into (also with colouring from c).
Obs.| 1648 Heylin Relat. & Observ. i. 135 In conclusion, after a tedious debate, the desires of the Citizens were referred to a Committee of the House to be wyer-drawne into an Ordinance. 1756 Connoisseur No. 118 ¶8 [He] wire-drawed the books of Moses into a complete system of Natural Philosophy. |
† f. intr. To be penurious or stingy;
trans. to be overreaching or extortionate with.
Obs.| 1610 Beaum. & Fl. Scornf. Lady v. i, Thou hadst land and thousands, thou spendst, and flungst away, and yet it flows in double: I purchased, wrung, and wierdraw'd, for my wealth, lost, and was cozen'd. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 162 Seeing us wire-draw and castabout every way, rather then we will part with anything. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Wire-draw, to screw, over-reach, or deal hard with. |