live wire

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See also: livewire and live-wire

English

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Noun

live wire (plural live wires)

  1. (electricity) An electrical wire through which there is a flow of electrical current.
    • 2006, "Two boys electrocuted," The Hindu (India), 27 Sep. (retrieved 24 Dec. 2008):
      Two boys got electrocuted when a live wire fell on the auto-rickshaw in which they were sitting.
  2. (idiomatic) An especially energetic, alert, or vivacious person.
    • 1927, "Will Not Go," Time, 19 Dec.:
      Mr. Black is a kindly, gentle, fine individual, but as a leader, an up-to-date fellow, a go-getter—why he just doesn't know the first thing about it. . . . In a growing community like Douglaston we need a live wire.
    • 2007, Charlaine Harris, Real Murders: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, →ISBN, p. 95:
      She was irresistible—a laughing, chattering live wire, never at a loss for a word.

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