源自赛马运动。过去终点线上会拉一根细绳（wire），领先的马触碰到绳子即为获胜。现形容竞争激烈，直到最后一秒才能分出胜负。

• The election is going down to the wire, with both candidates tied. ^{选举进入了最后关头，两位候选人旗鼓相当。}
• The game went down to the wire, and we won in the last second. ^{比赛一直激烈到最后，我们在最后一秒赢了。}
• With the deadline approaching, it looks like this project will go down to the wire. ^{随着截止日期临近，这个项目看来要到最后时刻才能完成了。}