foul vs wire

foul

verb
  • To hit a ball outside of the baselines. 

  • To make contact with an opposing player in order to gain advantage. 

  • To become clogged. 

  • To become entangled. 

  • To come into contact or collide with. 

  • To make dirty. 

  • To besmirch. 

  • To hit outside of the baselines. 

  • To clog or obstruct. 

  • To entangle. 

  • To commit a foul. 

adj
  • Entangled and therefore restricting free movement, not clear. 

  • Detestable, unpleasant, loathsome. 

  • Obscene, vulgar or abusive. 

  • Disgusting, repulsive; causing disgust. 

  • (with "of") Positioned on, in, or near enough to (a specified area) so as to obstruct it. 

  • Dishonest or not conforming to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc. 

  • Unpleasant, stormy or rainy. 

  • Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty. 

  • Outside of the base lines; in foul territory. 

noun
  • A breach of the rules of a game, especially one involving inappropriate contact with an opposing player in order to gain an advantage; for example, tripping someone up in soccer, or contact of any kind in basketball. 

  • A foul ball, a ball which has been hit outside of the base lines. 

  • A (usually accidental) contact between a bowler and the lane before the bowler has released the ball. 

wire

verb
  • To place (a ball) so that the wire of a wicket prevents a successful shot. 

  • To send a message or monetary funds to another person through a telecommunications system, formerly predominantly by telegraph. 

  • To fasten with wire, especially with reference to wine bottles, corks, or fencing. 

  • To set or predetermine (someone's personality or behaviour, or an organization's culture) in a particular way. 

  • To string on a wire. 

  • To add (something) into a system (especially an electrical system) by means of wiring. 

  • To snare by means of a wire or wires. 

  • To install eavesdropping equipment. 

  • To make someone tense or psyched up. See also adjective wired. 

  • To connect, involve or embed (something) deeply or intimately into (something else, such as an organization or political scene), so that it is plugged in (to that thing) (“keeping up with current information about (the thing)”) or has insinuated itself into (the thing). 

  • To add or connect (something) into a system as if with wires (for example, with nerves). 

  • To equip with wires for use with electricity. 

noun
  • Any of the system of wires used to operate the puppets in a puppet show; hence, the network of hidden influences controlling the action of a person or organization; strings. 

  • A piece of such material; a thread or slender rod of metal, a cable. 

  • A knitting needle. 

  • Metal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die. 

  • A telecommunication wire or cable. 

  • An electric telegraph; a telegram. 

  • A hidden listening device on the person of an undercover operative for the purposes of obtaining incriminating spoken evidence. 

  • A fence made of usually barbed wire. 

  • A deadline or critical endpoint. 

  • A metal conductor that carries electricity. 

  • A finish line of a racetrack. 

  • A wire strung with beads and hung horizontally above or near the table which is used to keep score. 

  • The slender shaft of the plumage of certain birds. 

  • A covert signal sent between people cheating in a card game. 

How often have the words foul and wire occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )