telephone
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A rotary-dial telephone
English
Etymology
First used by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 to refer to the modern instrument, but previous devices had been given this name, which was borrowed from French téléphone. Ultimately from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle, “afar”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈtɛl.ɪˌfəʊn/, /ˈtɛl.əˌfəʊn/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈtɛl.əˌfoʊn/
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: tel‧e‧phone
Noun
telephone (countable and uncountable, plural telephones)
- (countable, telephony) A telecommunication device (originally mechanical, and now electronic) used for two-way talking with another person (now often shortened to phone).
- Synonyms: (slang) blower, phone, (slang) Ameche, (slang) dog and bone, (informal) horn, (slang) pipe; see also Thesaurus:phone
- Hyponym: cellphone
- (countable, historical) The receiver of such a device.
- (Canada, US, uncountable) The game of Chinese whispers.
- (Canada, US, uncountable, figuratively) Chinese whispers; a situation in which an initial message has been distorted and misunderstood by being passed from person to person.
Derived terms
Terms derived from telephone (noun)
- answerphone
- antitelephone
- big white telephone
- broken telephone
- candlestick telephone
- cellular telephone
- cordless telephone
- daffodil telephone
- EPR telephone
- Everett-Wheeler telephone
- field telephone
- French telephone
- magnetotelephone
- mobile telephone
- monotelephone
- on the telephone
- pantelephone
- pedestal telephone
- pillar telephone
- plain old telephone service
- premium-rate telephone number
- pretelephone
- public telephone
- radiotelephone
- radio-telephone
- talk to God on the big white telephone
- talk to Ralph on the big white telephone
- telco
- telemarketing
- telephonable
- telephone alphabet
- telephone answering machine
- telephone-bell
- telephone book
- telephone booth
- telephone box
- telephone call
- telephone card
- telephone conference
- telephone desk
- telephone directory
- telephone exchange
- telephone game
- telephone girl
- telephone jack
- telephone kiosk
- telephoneless
- telephonelike
- telephone line
- telephone number
- telephone operator
- telephone pole
- telephoner
- telephone ring
- telephone scatologia
- telephone sex
- telephone shower
- telephone shower
- telephone tag
- telephonic
- telephonicate
- telephonist
- telephonitis
- telephonology
- telephonophile
- telephonophobia
- telephonophobic
- telephony
- telethon
- thermotelephone
- tin can telephone
- Tucker telephone
- untelephoned
- videotelephone
- white telephone
- white-telephone
Translations
a device used for two-way talking with other people
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Chinese whispers — see Chinese whispers
Verb
telephone (third-person singular simple present telephones, present participle telephoning, simple past and past participle telephoned)
- (transitive, intransitive) To (attempt to) contact someone using a telephone.
- 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:
- “I came down like a wolf on the fold, didn’t I ? Why didn’t I telephone ? Strategy, my dear boy, strategy. This is a surprise attack, and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. …”
- 1944 July and August, “Top Link Drivers: XXI—Driver H. Blunt, L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 226:
- Having completed their task, Fireman Page telephoned from a lineside box to the next signal cabin, briefly reported the incident and said that, as no high explosive had dropped and the track was safe, they proposed proceeding "at caution".
- 1961 November, “Talking of Trains: Derailment near Holmes Chapel”, in Trains Illustrated, page 652:
- The length ganger saw the train passing with the van derailed and promptly telephoned the Sandbach signalman, who restored his signals to danger, but not in time to stop the train before the final derailment occurred.
- (transitive) To convey (a message) via telephone.
- 2012, Robert Byron, Jan Morris, Europe in the Looking-Glass:
- David telephoned his apologies to his mother.
Synonyms
- call, drop a line, phone, ring
- See also Thesaurus:telephone
Derived terms
Translations
to call someone
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