Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to trick, to swindle.

1868

H.L. Williams Black-Eyed Beauty 42: She’s on the fight ever since she wired that flat.

2. (UK Und.) to pick pockets.

1851		Liverpool Mercury 14 Jan. 38/2: ‘Johnny, I wish you would take my youing one [...] a wiring up the country’.
1862		Kendal Mercury 8 Nov. 6/1: The first-class thieves do not confine themselves to Britain [...] They [...] ‘wire’ in the streets of Paris.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 23 Sept. 6/5: [She] had ‘wired them for all their wealth.

3. (Aus., also wire into) to hurry, to act rapidly.

1890		H. Nisbet ‘Bail Up!’ 219: Now, wire along, Johnny, with the treacle.
1891		Bird o’ Freedom (Sydney) 14 Feb. 2/1: And he wired into an article on the downtrodden clerks of Sydney.
1892		Launceston Examiner (Tas.) 26 Mar. 2/5: Come on, boys, let’s wire in.

4. (Aus.) to suggest, to instruct.

1908

Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Oct. 14/3: After that ’e wired a few blokes t’ join ’im in shiftin’ some cellar cordial, ’n’ they wandered off with ’im t’ th’ Fathom uv Froth shicker saloon.

5. (US) to place an eavesdropping device in a room, or to conceal such a device on one’s person, ‘to bug’; thus wired adj. [wire n.¹ (10)].

1973		P. Maas Serpico 275: ‘You’re not wired, you fuck, are you?’ Serpico shrugged and raised his arms, let the detective pat him down.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 385: I think you ought to go wired. [...] Yeah. You ought to wear a recording device.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] Hidalgo wants to wire Eddie’s crib.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 34: Peep me, B and E me, wire me for sound.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 38: ‘You think the car is wired?’.

6. (US) to stimulate, to excite.

1986

R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 172: If I don’t pour the coffee, who’s going to wire the town?

7. see hot-wire v. (1)