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WIRY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: wirier , wiriest
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Of hair that resembles wire in stiffness
Example:
wiry red hair
Classified under:
Similar:
haired; hairy; hirsute (having or covered with hair)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Lean and sinewy
Synonyms:
stringy; wiry
Classified under:
Similar:
lean; thin (lacking excess flesh)
Derivation:
wiriness (the property of being lean and tough and sinewy)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Of or relating to wire
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Pertainym:
wire (ligament made of metal and used to fasten things or make cages or fences etc)
Derivation:
wire (ligament made of metal and used to fasten things or make cages or fences etc)
Context examples:
The Airedale Terrier is a large terrier with a harsh wiry coat, long flat head, and a deep chest.
(Airedale Terrier, NCI Thesaurus)
There are two types: Rough Coated (harsh wiry and dense), and Smooth-Coated or Petit Brabancon variety (short, straight, glossy).
(Brussels Griffon, NCI Thesaurus)
The Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen is a small dog with an unkempt, wiry double coat with shaggy eyebrows, beard and mustache.
(Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen, NCI Thesaurus)
He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He gasped, he gurgled, his face grew purple in his attempts to get his breath, while with his long left arm extended and his right thrown across, he tried to screen himself from the attack of his wiry antagonist.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was what might be termed a sinewy, knotty strength, of the kind we ascribe to lean and wiry men, but which, in him, because of his heavy build, partook more of the enlarged gorilla order.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
They were small men, wiry, active, and well-built, with lank black hair tied up in a bunch behind their heads with a leathern thong, and leathern also were their loin-clothes.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
First came Black Simon with his banner, bestriding a lean and powerful dapple-gray charger, as hard and wiry and warwise as himself.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
They were swarthy fellows, bearded and fierce, as active and wiry as panthers.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
