wire-puller

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • n wire-puller one who uses secret influence (i.e. pulls wires or strings) for his own ends
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • n Wire-puller One who pulls the wires, as of a puppet; hence, one who uses secret influence (i.e. pulls wires or strings) for his own ends; an intriguer. "Political wire-pullers and convention packers."
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • Wire-puller one who exercises an influence felt but not seen, as if the actors were his puppets and he pulled the wires that move them: an intriguer
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Etymology

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
A.S. wír; Ice. vírr; perh. conn. with L. viriæ, bracelets.

Usage

In literature:

If he had been a political wire-puller, many of our misfortunes might have been averted.
"Vanished Arizona" by Martha Summerhayes
Go down; see Toby; see the wiseacres and wire-pullers; get your name in vogue!
"Denzil Quarrier" by George Gissing
He is not the choice of the nation, he is the choice of the wire-pullers.
"The English Constitution" by Walter Bagehot
The result of "coaching" for the occasion by some wire-puller was painfully apparent.
"The Campaign of Chancellorsville" by Theodore A. Dodge
His contempt for political wire-pullers amounted almost to loathing.
"Beacon Lights of History, Volume XII" by John Lord
My wit's too wide To a wire-puller's "platform" to be tied.
"Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 103, July 9, 1892" by Various
O hero amongst men, as a wooden doll is made to move its limbs by the wire-puller, so are creatures made to work by the Lord of all.
"The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1"
He must not be a mere general, a mere lawyer, a mere wire-puller.
"Stephen A. Douglas" by Allen Johnson
The wire-puller was playing a part.
"Outward Bound" by Oliver Optic
But the wire-pullers were determined to upset it.
"The Arian Controversy" by H. M. Gwatkin
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