'hard wired' definitions:

Definition of 'hard wired'

From: GCIDE
  • hard-wired \hard"-wired"\, hard wired \hard" wired"\(h[aum]rd"w[imac]rd"), a.
  • 1. (Computers) Contained within the circuitry of a computer or computer peripheral device, and not changeable by programming; -- of functions; as, error correction is hard-wired into the circuit of the disk drive, so it proceeds very rapidly. [PJC]
  • 2. Connected by a continuous electrical wire, rather than through a switch; as, the air-conditioner was hard-wired into the wall circuit, so moving it would require an electrician. [PJC]
  • 3. (Metaph.) Performed by an inborn pattern of neural circuits; instinctive; not learned; as, many bird songs are hard-wired, but some are learned. [PJC]
  • People, as the cybernetic metaphor now has it, are "hard wired" to do good in order to enhance their own happiness. --Andrew Delbanco (New York Times Magazine, May 7, 2000; p. 46). [PJC]

Words containing 'hard wired'