Dictionary

wirewove en · ADJ

Etymology

From wire + wove.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) A type of writing paper of a fine glazed quality.
   • Now, high as our opinion is of our laureate's abilities and genius, we offer to lay six guineas of wirewove gilt to a pound of whitey-brown that not two hundred copies of this Eastern Tale are sold within the two years. 1867, John Wilson, Noctes Ambrosianae, page 353:
   • Dr. Johnson could not have spoken with more brutal plainness than Davenport to his aspiring neighbour of the first floor,— That best natur'd man with the worst natur'd Muse,— when advising him to abjure foolscap and wirewove, and go home and cultivate his estates. 1854, Mrs. Gore (Catherine Grace Frances), Progress and Prejudice - Volume 1, page 84:
   • Macmillan continued to argue for cloth binding, and on the following day sent by mail a sample book in cloth binding with imitation 'wirewove paper' in 'mock rib' in order to persuade Pater (p. 71). 2014, Robert M. Seiler, The Book Beautiful: Walter Pater and the House of Macmillan, page 36:
2. (not-comparable) A translucent material made of woven iron wires coated in varnish, used for windows or roofs on temporary structures.
   • In design, in internal arrangement and in appearance it was satisfactory, but it failed in the first essential of a house, as it afforded no Protection whatsoever against either heat or cold. Not only did this wirewove material afford no protection, but it appeared to intensify within the house the heat or cold prevailing outside. 1914, Country Life - Volume 35, Issues 887-912, page 965:
   • Fitting windows with wirewove glass can hardly be considered urgent or unforeseen; it should have been in your private estimates, even if not produced to Parliament. 1913, Commonwealth Shipping Committee, Report - Volume 13:
   • A new substitute for glass in the form of varnish covered wire is now being used where glass will not stand the vibration or other conditions. The transparent wirewove roofing which is translucent, pliable as leather, and unbreakable, has for its basis a web of fine iron wire, with warp and weft threads about 1-12 inch apart. The netting is covered on both sides with a thick, translucent varnish, containing a loarge percentage of linseed oil. 1890, The Office Men's Record - Volumes 3-6, page 142:
3. (not-comparable) A bedspring made entirely from twisted wires formed into springs.
   • Here a poet with only one true soulmate had loved many women on a dusty mattress, to the harsh, repetitive rhythm of the springs on his wirewove bed. 2005, Alice Tawhai, Festival of Miracles, page 15:
   • It'd let us off at the cattle stop on Herbie Blank's drive and we'd roll up the hill to the shearers' quarters and roll ourselves into our single wirewove beds to sleep it off till crack of dawn when the farm work started up again. 2007, Martin Edmond, Waimarino County and Other Excursions, page 54:
   • A wirewove, of course, with that hammocky sag that promised an excruciating night and a hunchback come morning, but it is a clear choice between saggy wirewove and bunks, and she loathes bunks. 2002, Fiona Farrell, The hopeful traveller:

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