| 释义 |
telegram, n.|ˈtɛlɪgræm|
[f. Gr. τῆλε tele- + -gram; so F. télégramme (1867 in Littré), Ger. telegramm (1865 in Sanders).]
A message sent by telegraph; a telegraphic dispatch or communication. Also transf. and fig.
(This term encountered at first much opposition from scholars, as not being formed on Greek analogies, which give, as in mod.Gr., τηλεγράϕηµα telegrapheme; but its practical convenience led in a few years to its general adoption. In the Panmure Papers it takes the place of ‘telegraphic despatch’ from 11 Oct. 1855. Cf. also telegraph 3.)
1852Albany Even. Jrnl. 6 Apr. (Bartlett), A friend desires us to give notice that he will ask leave..to introduce a new word... It is telegram, instead of telegraphic dispatch, or telegraphic communication. 1855Ld. Clarendon 31 May in Panmure Papers (1908) I. 218 A message should go forthwith by telegram. 1857Lady Canning Let. fr. Calcutta 16 Jan. in A. Hare Two Noble Lives (1893) II. 140 ‘A telegram’—a new Yankee word for a telegraphic despatch. 1857[see telegrapheme]. 1857Maj. Birch Let. 21 Apr. in Morn. Chron. 23 Oct. 4/5 A telegram to the following effect has this day been transmitted to you [etc.]. 1858Chamb. Jrnl. IX. 75/2 The Longmans have promised to include the word telegram in their forthcoming dictionary. 1859Lytton What will he do xii. xi, I sent a telegram (oh that I should live to see such a word introduced into the English language!). 1860Lytton (‘O. Meredith’) Lucile ii. iv. §5 note, Ere a cable went under the hoary Atlantic, Or the word telegram drove grammarians frantic. 1873F. Hall Mod. Eng. 158 note, There is, as against the exact, but surfeiting, telegrapheme, our lawless telegram. 1908E. J. Banfield Confessions of Beachcomber ii. i. 244 Telegrams along the line from the sucker [sc. a fish] give precise information. 1963Listener 3 Jan. 14/1 A slim, solid brick tower, a kind of telegram about all the best and strongest things in Germany, stands a few feet away.
attrib. and Comb.1875G. Ager (title) The Telegram Code, for the Use of Bankers, Merchants, and Shipowners. 1881Blackw. Mag. Apr. 470 The general telegram-sender. 1895Daily News 3 Dec. 5/3 For some years past the Parisians have had the benefit of a system of ‘telegram postcards’ which are sent by pneumatic tubes. 1922Joyce Ulysses 117 A telegram boy stepped in nimbly, threw an envelope on the counter and stepped off posthaste.
Hence ˈtelegram v. intr. to send a telegram, to telegraph (rare); trans. (a) to telegraph to; (b) to send (news, information, etc.) by telegraph; ˈtelegrammed ppl. a., that has been sent by telegraph; ˈtelegramming vbl. n. Also ˌtelegraˈmese (nonce-wd.) = telegraphese 1; ˌtelegraˈmmatic, teleˈgrammic adjs., of or pertaining to telegrams; concise or condensed like a telegram. All rare.
1864Sala in Daily Tel. 27 July, Every patriotic man is bound to resent..any insult offered to the flag of his country..without being told or *telegrammed to shoot anybody. 1876E. FitzGerald Let. 2 Aug., I ought to have telegramed back to you. 1952M. Tripp Faith is Windsock x. 149 In hospital with a broken leg. His mother has just telegrammed the news. 1969R. Millar Kut vii. 154 A miserable Aylmer telegrammed Lake with a copy to Townshend. 1970Nature 18 July 225/1 This information was simultaneously telegrammed to doctors. 1972D. Douglass Pit Life in Co. Durham (History Workshop Pamphlets No. 6) 53 The Executive Committee issued telegrammed instructions to the Lodge. 1973A. Broinowski Take One Ambassador ii. 16 The telephoning and telegramming was to begin once more. 1977C. McCullough Thorn Birds ix. 201 Mrs. Cleary telegrammed me, a..courtesy I appreciated very much. 1981Washington Post 26 May a15/1 Israeli Premier Menachem Begin's suggestion in telegramming his congratulations for Mitterand's election.
1894Pall Mall Mag. Mar. 733 It [the telegram] was not written in *telegramese, and it cost more money than it ought.
1866Visct. Strangford Selection (1869) II. 14 The *telegrammatic battle is no longer a simple duel between Athens and Constantinople.
1864Webster, *Telegrammic,..in the nature of a telegram; hence, laconic; concise; brief; succinct. 1866London Rev. 25 Aug. 216/1 People insist that thought should be expressed with telegrammic brevity. 1891G. Meredith One of our Conq. II. ix. 237 The letter was telegramic on the essential point. |