earphonen.
/ˈɪəfəʊn/, U.S. /ˈɪ(ə)rˌfoʊn/ 1.
a. A sound-amplifying device worn or held against the ear in order to compensate for impaired hearing; an ear trumpet or hearing aid. Now rare.
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1880 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 3/9 (advt.) Also..earphones for deaf people.
1928 J. F. Barnhill Nose, Throat & Ear 583 Ear phones..are the most serviceable present means of aiding impaired hearing.
1954 Bakersfield Californian 28 Aug. 2/1 (advt.) Try the Canal Earphone in the privacy of your own home and see for yourself how much it helps you hear.
b. An electrical device containing a small speaker, which is held against the ear or (esp. in later use) worn against or in the ear (typically as one of a pair) in order to listen to telephone or radio communication or (now more usually) to listen to music or other media on a stereo system, portable music player, computer, etc. Frequently in plural: a pair of such earphones. Cf. headphone n.
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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > audibility > sound magnification or reproduction > [noun] > earphone(s)
earpiece1853
earphone1881
headphone1882
phone1884
ear bud1983
society > communication > telecommunication > [noun] > reception of signals > instrument for > earphones
earpiece1853
earphone1881
headphone1882
phone1884
headset1900
ear tabc1909
can1927
1881 Atchison (Kansas) Globe 10 Dec. A young man who was engaged in mending a telephone..was suddenly surprised to see smoke and flame shoot out of the ear phone.
1887 U.S. Patent 362,652 3/2 The receiver or ear-phone of the operator's telephone outfit is in direct circuit with the cords and switch-plugs.
1927 Radio Times 22 Apr. 145/1 One might even suppose that you had never in your life put on a pair of earphones or listened to a loud speaker.
1965 Punch 17 Mar. 404/3 Only two of the sound films..have subtitles, the others being shown with ‘earphone commentary’.
2012 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 18 Apr. a23/3 The floor manager handed him his earphones.
2. In plural. A woman's hairstyle, popular in the 1920s, in which plaits were coiled around each ear in the manner of earphones.
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the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > styles of hair > [noun] > other specific styles of hair > for women
cockernony1701
Madonna1829
Madonna braid1829
pompadour1872
marumage1880
marcel-waving1904
turban swathe1912
up-do1938
earphones1940
pageboy1976
1940 D. Thomas Portrait of Artist as Young Dog 78 If I were a young girl watching, my face like Mona Lisa's, my coal-black hair coiled in earphones, I'd see beneath the ‘Boys' Department’ suit a manly body with hair and sun tan.
1964 M. Drabble Garrick Year iv. 57 I spent hours trying to put my hair into earphones.
1985 E. Wilson Adorned in Dreams viii. 172 Hairdressers reinvented ‘earphones’ (plaits coiled round over the ears like small raffia place mats).
2009 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 17 May (Arts & Leisure section) 6/1 Madame Arcati's hairdo—a bright red wig with Princess Leia-like plaits wrapped over her ears—was also Ms. Lansbury's idea. ‘We used to call them earphones, and they were the style in the '20s and '30s,’ she said.
Compounds
earphone jack n. a jack socket on a device for plugging in an earphone or pair of earphones.
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1926 Repository (Canton, Ohio) 19 Dec. 35/4 The Apex earphone jack which automatically cuts off amplification and brings a modulated tone when earphones are used.
1952 U.S. Patent 2,584,562 4 The amplified signals pass through a high pass filter network.., provided with an earphone jack to permit monitoring of the amplified signals.
1963 Pop. Mech. Sept. 192 Once the radio has been modified, the recharger plugs into what used to be its earphone jack.
2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 10 Feb. e4/1 The JamPod, which can be plugged into the earphone jack with a dock connector, gives electric guitarists an opportunity to shred along to their favorite MP3's.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1880