telegraphyn.
/tᵻˈlɛɡrəfi/, U.S. /təˈlɛɡrəfi/ 1.
a. The action or practice of conveying messages over a distance using visible or audible signs or signals; a method of doing this. Cf. telegraph n. 1a.
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1794 Pocket Mag. Sept. 121 (heading) M. de Lolme's thoughts on telegraphy.
1797 Trans. Royal Irish Acad. 6 Science 96 Tamerlane's telegraphy was not very refined... Whenever he laid siege to any town he used to employ three signals—the first day he set up a white flag [etc.].
1837 Army & Navy Chron. 23 Feb. 120/1 The progress of different people in civilization and power was attended with some slight improvements in Telegraphy.
1867 Pract. Mechanic's Jrnl. Sept. 164/1 The Greeks had a genuine system of light telegraphy.
1954 G. Grigson & C. H. Gibbs-Smith People, Places & Things III. 383/1 Visual methods of telegraphy recurred again in the eleventh century when the Arabs developed the heliograph.
2004 J. Leigh & D. Woodhouse Football Lexicon (2006) 205 The telegraphy in question is presumably the semaphore signalling of old, rather than the more recent and familiar tapping of keys which does not involve overt signalling of intention.
b. The action or practice of communicating by electric telegraph (telegraph n. 3a). Also: the art or science of constructing and using telegraphs; the means by which a telegraph, or system of telegraphs, works.Hertzian telegraphy, multiple telegraphy, picture telegraphy, space telegraphy, spark telegraphy, etc.: see the first element. See also radio-telegraphy n., wireless telegraphy n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telegraphy > [noun]
telegraphy1840
society > communication > indication > signalling > visual signalling > semaphore > [noun] > operation or construction of telegraph system
telegraphy1840
submarining1855
1840 London & Edinb. Philos. Mag. 16 493 M. Vorsselman de Heer, in his valuable memoir on Electric Telegraphy..observed that it [sc. the numerator] depends on the nature of the metals, and not on their dimensions.
1858 Times 28 Aug. 10/6 The cause of telegraphy has too many demands upon the labours of..these practised cable layers, to permit them to be idle here.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 101 In these days of electric telegraphy every one is familiar with the..galvanic or voltaic battery.
1901 Westm. Gaz. 7 Oct. 10/1 It was on July 25, 1837, that the first practical trial of telegraphy was made between Euston and Camden, on the London and North-Western Railway, by Cooke and Wheatstone.
2013 Guardian (Nexis) 22 Nov. (G2 section) 3 Telegraphy dominated communications for most of the rest of the 19th century and remained significant in the 20th, but now we are close to the end of the line.
2. figurative. Communication likened to telegraphy; spec. communication by silent or invisible means.
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1818 Monthly Mag. Mar. 129/1 Gravitation, or correspondent movements between the celestial bodies, notwithstanding their distance, is..a kind of divine telegraphy, if the expression may be allowed.
1864 Daily Tel. 26 May That kind of social telegraphy which seems to convey intelligence with a mystery and rapidity quite as wonderful as the electric wire.
1893 ‘M. Twain’ £1,000,000 Bank-note 41 (title) Mental Telegraphy.
1950 J. Hersey Wall 246 He decided, on the basis of the slightest telegraphy between their eyes, that Stefan and Halinka were in love.
1998 D. Herrmann Helen Keller (1999) vii. 104 I suppose it was mental telegraphy for there was no way for her to know what I said.
2007 Leonardo 40 199/1 Tunsi delivers dance beat as text, as telegraphy of the body, gestural movements.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1794