I'd like to know what quot;wiremeans when it refers to computers. Is it the computer itself or the Internet?
It is incorrectly used for computers unless one is setting it up, since computers are, of course, wireless.
Need context to answer your question. Can you give us the complete sentence in which the word appears? EDIT: Thanks for the clarification. Over the wire or Across the wire refer to the days when things were done by telegraph, which was a wired way of communication in the days before computers. If an announcer is, say, 70 years old, he might still use the expression, even though it would now mean that he just got the news. And he would have received it by phone or via computer.
Wire is an old term. Way back in the day, many many moons ago, in the day of cowboys and Indians, there was an invention called the telegraph. Telegraphs are connected (or network as we say nowaday) by electrical wires. News and latest info are sent to the telegraphs through these wires. The postmaster received the latest info and breaking news from out of town through this contraption. He then handed the info over to the writers and said: This just came over the wire! or This just came across the wire! So through the years, over the wire and across the wire meant: The latest breaking news or info just published or broadcasted.
