wiredraw, wierdraw

t. [Eng. wire, and draw.] I. Ordinary Language : 1. Lit .: To form into wire, as a metal, by forcibly pulling through a series of holes, gradually decreasing in diameter. *2. Figuratively : (1) To draw out into length; to elongate. (2) To draw or spin out to great length or tenu ity; as, to wiredraw an argument. (3) To draw by act or violence; to twist. "Nor am I for forcing, or wiredrawing the sense of the text."-South: Sermons, vol. v., ser. ii. II. Steam - eng .. To draw off, as steam, through narrow ports, thus wasting part of its effect. wire'-draw-er, *wier-draw-er, s . [Eng. wire, and drawer.] One who draws metal into wire. (Chaucer: Test . Love , bk. iii.) wire'-draw-lig, pr. par., a. & s. [WIREDRAW.] A. & B. As pr . par . & particip . adj .: (See the verb.) C. As substantive: wire. The metal to be extended is first hammered 1. Lit .: The act or proce of drawing metal into into a bar or rod. The rods, from 4 to1⁄2 inch in diameter, received from the rolling-mills in bundles, are heated and re-rolled in grooved rollers, one above the other, so that the rod runs from the first roll to the second, and so on, without reheating. The rollers run with great rapidity, reducing the rod to a coarse wire, which is then pa ed through the succe ive holes in the draw-plate, a flat piece of hard steel having holes corresponding to the various numbers or sizes of wire. The best are made of a combined plate of highly-tempered steel and wrought iron. The holes are tapering, the smallest opening being on the steel side through which the wire first enters. [DRAW-PLATE.] Very fine gold and platinum wires, used for the spider lines of telescopes, are formed by coating the metal with silver, which is then drawn down to a great tenuity, after which the silver coating is removed by nitric acid, leaving an almost invisible interior wire, which has been so attenuated that a mile in length weighed only a grain. Wiredrawing seems to have arisen at Augsburg or Nuremberg in the fourteenth century. In 1483 and 1484 the importation of iron wire into England was prohibited. The manufacture was soon after attempted in England, but did not make much progre till a patent was granted, in 1565, to certain Dutchmen and Germans to carry it and some other proce es out. The first English wire mill was set up at Sheen, near Rich mond, by a Dutchman, in 1662. 2. Fig .: The act of drawing out an argument or discu ion to prolixity and attenuation by usele refinements, distinctions, disquisitions, and the like. wire'-drawn, pa. par. & a. [WIREDRAW.] A. As pa. par.: (See the verb.) B. As adjective : 1. Ord . Lang .: Drawn out or extended to prolixity, as an argument, . 2. Steam : A term applied to the condition of steam when the pipes or ports leading to the cylinder have not sufficient carrying capacity. twir-er, s. [Eng. wir (e), v.; -er.] One who uses a wire; spec if., one who snares game. [WIRE, v., A. 4.] "The nightly wirer of their innocent hare." Tennyson: Aylmer's Field , 490. wire-wõrm, s. [Eng.wire, and worm .] [See def.] Entom. & Agric . The name given by farmers and others to a kind of vermiform larva, long, slender, cylindrical, and somewhat rigid. Most wireworms are the larvæ of the Elate ride. Some live in rotten stumps of trees, others gnaw roots of kitchen garden and other plants, cereals, gra on lawns, . Some of them live in the larva state for three years. One of the most common wireworms is the larva of Cataphagus sputator . The last segment of the body is long, entire, and wirelike. It is believed that the form of this species suggested the prefix wire in the name wireworm. It attacks the roots of lettuces, eating them as far as the collar, with the effect of killing the plant. Agriotes line at us similarly devours the roots of the oat, causing the leaves to wither and the plant to die. The larva of Hemi rhipus segetis feeds on the roots of plants with the wirine same destructive effect. The rook, the domestic fowl, and the mole are natural foes of the wire worms. The name is sometimes applied to the Iulide. wir-I-ne , s. [Eng. wiry; -ne .) The quality or state of being wiry. wir'-Ing, pr. par. or a. [WIRE, v.]