wirewove

English

Alternative forms

• wire-wove

Etymology

From wire +‎ wove.

Adjective

wirewove (not comparable)

1. A type of writing paper of a fine glazed quality.
   • 1854, Mrs. Gore (Catherine Grace Frances), Progress and Prejudice - Volume 1, page 84:

     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.

   • 1867, John Wilson, Noctes Ambrosianae, page 353:

     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.

   • 2014, Robert M. Seiler, The Book Beautiful: Walter Pater and the House of Macmillan, page 36:

     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).

2. A translucent material made of woven iron wires coated in varnish, used for windows or roofs on temporary structures.
   • 1890, The Office Men's Record - Volumes 3-6, page 142:

     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.

   • 1913, Commonwealth Shipping Committee, Report - Volume 13:

     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.

   • 1914, Country Life - Volume 35, Issues 887-912, page 965:

     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.

3. A bedspring made entirely from twisted wires formed into springs.
   • 2002, Fiona Farrell, The hopeful traveller:

     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.

   • 2005, Alice Tawhai, Festival of Miracles, page 15:

     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.

   • 2007, Martin Edmond, Waimarino County and Other Excursions, page 54:

     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.