live wire

See also: livewire, and live-wire

English

Alternative forms

• live-wire, livewire

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪv ˈwaɪə(ɹ)/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

live wire (plural live wires)

1. (electricity) An electrical wire through which there is a flow of electrical current.
   • 2006 September 27, “Two boys electrocuted”, in The Hindu, India, retrieved 24 December 2008:

     Two boys got electrocuted when a live wire fell on the auto-rickshaw in which they were sitting.

2. (figurative) An especially energetic, alert, or vivacious person.

   Synonyms: go-getter, life of the party, self-starter

   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Which Describes an Evening in Strange Company”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     With his thin, eager face and darting hands he was more than a live wire - he was a whole bundle of live wires.

   • 1927 December 19, “Will Not Go”, in Time:

     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.

   • 1977, “Psycho Killer”, in Talking Heads: 77, performed by Talking Heads:

     I can't sleep 'cause my bed's on fire / Don't touch me, I'm a real live wire

   • 2007, Charlaine Harris, Real Murders: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, →ISBN, page 95:

     She was irresistible—a laughing, chattering live wire, never at a loss for a word.

Translations

idiom for a vivacious person

• French: pile électrique (fr) f
• Maori: kori

References

• “live wire”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.