Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to set about something enthusiastically, e.g. one’s work or a meal.

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 271: wire-in a London street phrase in general use at the present time, the meaning of which I have not been able to discover.
1868		Sportsman 11 July 4/2: Notes on News [...] [T]he confederates ‘wire in,’ [and] the watch is snapped off the bow .
1871		C. Money Knocking About in N.Z. 147: I [...] hunted up a mate, who was a hard-working chap, ‘wired into’ the work, and in less than two months had cleared a sum that gave us £30.
1881		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Feb. 9/4: Results are said to prove their qualification and extreme willingness to lead Brisbane society. Consequently, the Brisbane upper ten are ‘wiring in.’.
1883		T.B. Reed Willoughby Captains (1887) 19: Wire in, now! Smash him up! scrunch him into the bank! [...] Lay on to it, you fellows.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 17: Good-bye, George, old man. I’m sorry we can’t wire in with you.
1889		C. Deveureux Venus in India I 90: In spite of my love I did wire into a rattling good feed.
1891		‘’Arry on a ’ouseboat’ in Punch 15 Aug. 76: I mean going for them a rare bat, and I’m game to wire in till all ’s blue.
1894		J. Astley Fifty Years (2nd edn) II 252: After wiring into a leg of mutton and rice-pudding, turning into [...] bed.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 96: Wire in, to go at anything with a will in order to succeed.
1901		T.B. Reed Master of Shell 31: ‘Wire in, hansom,’ shouted some. ‘Stick to it. Dig,’ cried others.
c.1905		J. Furphy Rigby’s Romance (1921) Ch. vii: 🌐 Just set down an’ wire in [...] Soda bread, an’ bacon, an’ honey, ad (adj.) libitum.
1911		E.S. Sorenson Bushman in Life in the Aus. Backblocks 20: I have heard him say grace before meat even in a shearing-shed. This is the grace: – / ‘One word’s as good as ten, / Wire in. Amen.’.
1911		Gem 9 Dec. 6: Blake ‘wired into’ his hundred lines.
1920		Marvel 21 Aug. 15: ‘Wire in!’ she told the boys [...] Sid took a big bite out of his wafer.
1933		M. Marshall Tramp-Royal on the Toby 15: I wired into the pemmican.
1959		D. Niland Big Smoke 66: Come on, you’re eating for five now, Mum. Wire in.
1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 108: We might as well kill this bottle [...] so wire in, lads. We did, with a will.
1996		B. Scott Banshee and Bullocky 13: Didn’t they just wire into that jam!

2. to criticize.

1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Sept. 4/1: He ’wires in’ to Teddy O’Kane, whom he generally calls in prose, ‘a disrepuitable godless old dog’.
1889		‘’Arry on Chivalry’ in Punch 20 July 177: To watch her wire into her sex like Jemimer, old man, ir rare larks.

3. to attack physically.

1900		Truth (Sydney) 25 Nov. 7/4: So when William sees the cupple / (He don't mind if they was 2). / He wires in.
1994		I. Welsh ‘A Smart Cunt’ in Acid House 285: He took off his glasses and fairly wired into me.