"battle goes down to wire"

Posted by ESC on November 12, 2002

In Reply to: Phrase "battle goes down to wire" posted by edith on November 12, 2002

: what is the origin of the phrase "battle goes down to wire"

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).