live wire

See also: livewire and live-wire

English

live wire (plural live wires)

(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.
(figuratively) 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, "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.
- 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.

idiom for a vivacious person