English

Alternative forms

• wire-house
• wire house

Noun

wirehouse ‎(plural wirehouses)

1. (Canada, US, finance) A major brokerage company, generally nationwide, with multiple branches.
   • 2012, Josh Brown, “Perhaps I’ve Been a Bit Too Harsh…”, Wall Street Journal Financial Adviser, January 25, 2012:

     Ten years ago, the Wall Street wirehouse brokerage firm seemed unassailable – part of the very firmament underpinning the entire investment industry from coast to coast.

2. (Canada, US, finance, obsolete) A brokerage company with a telegraph line, telephone line, or electronic communication network.
   • 1904, N.Y. Evening Post 18 June, 1904 (Financial Section) 1/7

     The so-called ‘wire house’ …is a product of the boom times.

   • 1905, The World’s work, Volume 9, Doubleday, Page & Co.:

     The “market information” is more diversified than formerly, and in many ways the “wire house” can fill a place that the old-style …

Usage notes

In contemporary use generally used narrowly, referring specifically to the Big 4 retail brokerage firms operating in the US: Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Wells Fargo & Co. In looser usage, applied to any large brokerage.

Hypernyms

• brokerage, stockbroker

See also

• bucket shop

References

• “Wire House (Wirehouse)”, The Big Apple, Barry Popik, November 11, 2008
• “wirehouse” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• “Wire House”, “Wire House Broker”, Investopedia