Take it to the wire

Posted by ESC on July 02, 2005

In Reply to: Take it to the wire posted by Lizzie on July 01, 2005

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: question: Hi - does anyone know the origin of the phrase -'take it to the wire' ? thanks

Maybe it relates to this expression:

DOWN TO THE WIRE -- It is a horse racing term. "...'wire' is synonymous with the finish line in horse racing, because of the wire stretched across the track that the horses passed under at the end of a race." From Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).