[A variant spelling of TIRE sb.2 both being used indifferently in 15th and 16th c. In 17th c. tire became the settled spelling, and has so continued in U.S.; but in Gt. Britain tyre has been revived for the pneumatic tires of bicycles, carriages, and motor-cars, and is also sometimes used for iron or steel tires.]
1. The iron or steel rim of a wheel, esp. the steel rim of the driving wheel of a locomotive: = TIRE sb.2 2.
1796. W. Felton, Carriages, Gloss., Tyre, the iron which rims the wheels. Ibid. (1801), II. 13. Extras to Wheels. Hooped tyre. Patent ditto.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 647. The advantage of hooping cast iron wheels with malleable iron tyres or trods.
1838. Bourne & Bartley, Patent Specif., No. 7795, 6 Sept., 3. The felloe turned … to receive an ordinary outside hoop or tyre.
1862. Smiles, Engineers, III. 365. There are limits to the strength of iron,… and there is a point at which both rails and tyres must break.
1865. Athenæum, 30 Sept., 442/1. Prior to the invention of weldless tyres.
1889. G. Findlay, Eng. Railway, 130. A steel tyre, spun from a solid block of Bessemer steel, without a weld.
2. A rubber cushion around the wheel of a bicycle, motor-car, etc.: = TIRE sb.2 2 b.
1875. Encycl. Brit., III. 665/1. India-rubber tyres … were brought into requisition to relieve jolting.
1890. Patent Specif., No. 4206. Large rubber tyres. known commercially as (1) Pneumatic tyres, (2) Cushion tyres.
1891–8. [see PNEUMATIC 1 b].
1902. Encycl. Brit., XXVII. 325/1. In 1846 Mr. William Thompson had taken out a patent for a pneumatic tyre for carriages.
3. attrib. and Comb., as tyre-bar, -carrier, -cover, -fitter, -hoop, -inflator, -maker, -pump, -rim, -wheel. (See also TIRE sb.2 3.)
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 6264. Specimens of iron and steel, and Stocker’s patent combined metal *tyre-bars.
1909. Westm. Gaz., 17 Nov., 5/2. The general fittings consist of two head-lights, wind-screen, clock, speedometer, two horns, and *tyre-carrier.
1903. Motor. Ann., 294. Brakes which act directly on the *tyre-cover cause it to deteriorate at an expensive rate.
1909. Westm. Gaz., 11 May, 7/2. Carriage builders, wheelwrights, carpenters, *tyre-fitters.
1865. Athenæum, 30 Sept., 442/1. *Tyre-hoops for railway wheels.
1901. Daily Chron., 23 Sept., 8/5. Most of the *tyre inflators now made are provided with handles which telescope over the barrel. Ibid. (1906), 8 Sept., 3/7. Most *tyre pumps have a gauge on them to show the correct pressure.
1896. Westm. Gaz., 2 May, 6/7. The Beeston Pneumatic Tyre Company … being unable to fulfil its orders for *tyre rims [etc.].
1801. W. Felton, Carriages, II. 38. A neat town Coach has … hooped *tyre wheels with moulded fellies.
Hence Tyre v., trans. to furnish with a tyre or tyres (= TIRE v.4); Tyred ppl. a., furnished with a tyre or tyres: chiefly in compounds (= TIRED ppl. a.2); Tyreless a., having no tyres.
1909. Miss G. Guinness, Peru, xxi. 222. Sufficient rubber to *tyre 300,000 motor-cars.
1884. G. L. Hiller, in Longm. Mag., III. 491. Using his *tyred but tireless steed [a bicycle].
1886. Rubber-tyred [see RUBBER sb.1 13 c].
1896. Pneumatic-tyred [see PNEUMATIC a. 5].
1906. Charlotte Mansfield, Girl & Gods, xv. The discordant hoot of the motor horn, the rumble of *tyreless vehicles.
