telephonen.
/ˈtɛlᵻfəʊn/, U.S. /ˈtɛləˌfoʊn/ 1. Any of various types of acoustic apparatus, device, or instrument for conveying sound over a distance.For the modern telephone which converts sound into electrical signals and vice versa, see sense 3a.
a. Any apparatus which conveys sound, esp. that of the voice, as vibrations along a string, wire, or other solid medium; spec. one consisting of two objects (e.g. tin cans) which can act as diaphragms, connected by a taut string or wire. Usually with distinguishing word or phrase, as lovers' telephone, string telephone, tin can telephone, etc.With the exception of quot. 1832, usage in this sense is with direct allusion to sense 3a, and so a modifying word is usually used to clarify the sense intended.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > other types of sound telecommunication > [noun] > apparatus
telephone1832
electrophone1864
magneto-telephone1878
thermophone1878
photophone1880
radiophone1881
teleradiophone1881
thermotelephonea1884
telegraphophone1889
theatrophone1889
hydrograph1893
sonobuoy1937
1832 Monthly Rev. Aug. 496 If a string of packthread be attached to the stem of a tuning fork, and placed in the chamber of the ear, the sound of the fork, when made to vibrate, will be heard at the end of the thread..while it is altogether imperceptible to a bystander. It has been suggested, that telegraphs, or, more properly speaking, telephones, might be invented upon this principle.
1878 Daily Arkansas Gaz. (Little Rock, Arkansas) 1 Feb. A couple of individuals were practicing with a string and tin can telephone on Markham street yesterday.
1886 Telegr. Jrnl. & Electr. Rev. 17 Dec. 589/2 His [sc. Charles Wheatstone's] ‘enchanted lyre’..has been characterised..as the first telephone.
1907 T. Jenks Electr. for Young People xvi. 175 The child's toy known as the ‘lovers' telephone’—two disks connected by a taut string.
1971 Pop. Sci. Dec. 109/1 The tin-can telephone..carried me back to my younger days.
1995 L. Coe Telephone & its Several Inventors v. 41 The ‘string telephone’..was undoubtedly inspired by Wheatstone's experiments.
2013 J. Keane Democracy & Media Decadence i. 6 The days are behind us..when children played with makeshift telephones made from jam tins connected by string.
b. A type of foghorn used on ships, railway trains, etc., for signalling by loud sounds or musical notes. Now historical and rare.Associated in particular with a device of this kind invented by John Taylor, a captain in the British Royal Navy.
ΚΠ
1844 Times 19 July 6/5 Yesterday week was a levee day at the Admiralty, and amongst the numerous models..was Captain J. N. Tayler's telephone instrument... The chief object of this powerful wind instrument is to convey signals during foggy weather.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2514/1 Telephone, an instrument for conveying signals by sound... The term, until lately, has been particularly applied to a signal adapted for nautical or railroad use, in which a body of compressed air is released from a narrow orifice and divided upon a sharp edge, in the manner of a steam-whistle.
1902 J. J. Fahie Hist. Wireless Telegr. (ed. 3) 8 In the first quotation he speaks of bells, for which we may read..some arrangement like the compressed-air telephone, proposed by Captain Taylor.
2010 A. Shea Phone Bk. i. 9 Even if his [sc. John Taylor's] telephone did not have a revolutionary effect on society, I am sure that it had a great impact on some individuals (particularly those at sea in a thick fog).
c. A gutta-percha speaking tube. Also: an apparatus for conveying the sound of the voice through the air over a distance, consisting of two gutta-percha parabolic reflectors in alignment, each attached to a speaking tube. Now historical and rare.The apparatus was demonstrated in 1848 to the British Association for the Advancement of Science under the name Telakouphanon, by Francis Whishaw (1804–56), English civil engineer and writer; see quot. 1848.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > signalling > audible signalling > [noun] > speaking-tube
speaking-tube1833
telephone1849
conversation tube1890
blower1945
1848 Athenæum 19 Aug. 845/3 Mr. Whishaw next exhibited the Telakouphanon, or Speaking Trumpet; and..said that speaking tubes of gutta percha were quite new.]
1849 Chambers's Jrnl. 30 June 408 While on the subject of gutta-percha, a few words may very well be given to Mr. Whishaw's inventions: among these are speaking-tubes... But we are, it seems, to be able to speak to a distance without any connecting tube at all: across the inner quadrangle of a building, for instance, by means of large concave gutta-percha reflectors..the portable telephone would be available where the telegraph..does not admit of application.
1851 Official Descriptive & Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. II. 442 [F. Whishaw's] Gutta percha telephone.
2010 A. Shea Phone Bk. i. 9 Whishaw's telephone was able to transmit a whispered conversation over a distance of three-quarters of a mile.
2. A system of communication using musical notes, devised by the French musician and composer Jean-François Sudre in 1828. Now historical and rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > signalling > audible signalling > [noun] > specific system of
telephone1835
telephony1835
1835 Leigh Hunt's London Jrnl. 25 July 234/1 (heading) M. Sudré's Telephone.
1841 Morning Post 10 Sept. 3/6 A kind of marine telegraph called the ‘Telephone’,..by which orders may be transmitted at night, when other means of communication fail.
2010 A. Shea Phone Bk. i. 6 Most of us would doubtless have had trouble ‘speaking’ in Telephone, had it lasted.
3.
a. An apparatus designed to convert sound, esp. speech, into electrical signals for the purpose of allowing two people to communicate verbally over a distance. In later use spec.: such a device used for communicating over a telecommunications network, typically equipped with a numbered dial or keypad used for initiating a connection with a particular user, and a means of alerting the recipient of an incoming call (typically by making a distinctive noise); (also more narrowly) the receiver or handset of such a device. Cf. phone n.2 1.One of the earliest devices of this kind was that constructed in 1861 by Johann Philipp Reis (1834–74), but this was found to suffer from a number of shortcomings that limited its practical use. Of those who investigated the possibility of transmitting speech in this way, such as Antonio Meucci (1808–89) and Elisha Gray (1835–1901), it was Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) who, in 1876, patented the first telephone that was capable both of transmitting speech clearly and reliably, and of allowing both parties to communicate with one another.Frequently with modifying word specifying a particular operational feature. mobile telephone, radio telephone, satellite telephone, etc.: see the first element.In recent use the word telephone (unlike phone) is typically used to refer to a landline telephone rather than a mobile phone.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > telephone
telephone instrument1844
telephone1864
phone1884
telephone set1884
set?1891
tubec1899
handset1901
blower1922
the horn1945
satellite telephone1961
dog1979
satellite phone1982
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > telephone > types of > other than Bell type
telephone1864
telephonograph1879
telegraphone1889
magneto-phonograph1902
1864 Telegr. Jrnl. 30 Apr. 215/1 Mr. Reis takes up this fact, and has constructed an acoustic telegraph or telephone.
1877 A. G. Bell in Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 1876–7 12 8 I placed the membrane of the telephone near my mouth.
1878 T. A. Edison in N. Amer. Rev. 126 534 The phonograph will perfect the telephone, and revolutionize present systems of telegraphy.
1883 S. P. Thompson P. Reis 49 We have now shown that Philipp Reis was the undisputed inventor [in 1861] of an instrument which he called the Telephone.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 29 Aug. 10/1 ‘It is the wonder of wonders’ exclaimed Sir William Thomson (now Lord Kelvin) after he had tested the first telephone shown to the public at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876.
1929 Pop. Sci. Monthly Jan. 67/1 If you own a telephone, there are 25,000,000 people with whom you can talk.
1962 Washington Post 10 Aug. a3/5 ‘There goes the guy,’ Pyles shouted. He dropped the telephone..and ran out the door.
1979 V. Canning Satan Sampler xi. 230 Kerslake's voice came reedily over the telephone.
2005 M. Levine Ready or Not, Here Life Comes ii. 26 The telephone wouldn't stop ringing. The sudden surge of social gratification was so totally consuming that Jeanette was unable to think about anything else.
2008 S. Armitage Gig 157 When a telephone was eventually installed, we signed up for something called a ‘party line.’
b. figurative and in extended use.
ΚΠ
1878 Marquis of Salisbury Speech Newspaper Press Fund in Observer 19 May 3/2 He will see the telephone [i.e. the reporters] by which these arguments and facts are conveyed to persons still open to conviction.
1898 J. Arch Story of Life xvi. 396 Now the agricultural labourer has his political telephone of his vote, his Board Schools, his County Council, his Parish Council.
1990 E. Babbie in T. Robbins & D. Anthony In Gods we Trust (ed. 2) xiv. 256 Jach is the telephone through which Lazaris places his long distance calls.
1995 L. Camnitzer On Art, Artists, Lat. Amer., & Other Utopias xxiv. 199 The leg..acted as a kind of involuntary telephone through which Santa Anna tried to have a loving conversation with his public.
4. North American. A game in which a message is whispered from player to player before its original wording is compared with its (typically distorted) final form. Also in extended use.Cf. Chinese whispers n. at Chinese adj. and n. Compounds 7, Russian scandal n. at Russian n. and adj. Compounds 2b.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > parlour and party games > [noun] > other party or parlour games
drawing of glovesc1540
drawing gloves1599
substantives and adjectives1601
draw gloves1648
grinning-match1711
Move All1782
consequences1811
stagecoach1831
letters1845
Russian scandal1861
buzz1864
snap1865
slappy1868
apple-ducking1886
up Jenkins1889
piladex1895
telephone1910
hot potato1915
sardines1924
murder in the dark1930
pass the parcel1953
seven minutes in (also of) heaven1953
Chinese whispers1964
1910 Hoosier Democrat (Flora, Indiana) 1 Jan. All played telephone, pinned whiskers on Santa Claus and enjoyed numerous pleasantries like young people.
1931 E. L. M. Hayes Tongues of Man vii. 76 There is a game called ‘Telephone’ in which the players sit in a row. The person at one end whispers a message to the player next to him.
1977 Washington Post 26 Apr. a19/3 Haley's American genealogy rested on generations of relatives playing ‘telephone’ with family history—handing down the lore from one person to the next to the next.
1990 New Age Jrnl. July 43/1 Memes that generate incorrect copies of themselves..would, like the message passed along in the child's game of ‘telephone’, tend to degenerate rapidly.
2011 E. Schappel Blueprints for building Better Girls 148 Emily and ten of her best friends sat in a circle on the floor playing Telephone.
5. Short for telephone call n. (b) at Compounds 3. Cf. phone n.2 2. Now rare (Indian English in later use).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > call or message
call1878
telephone call1878
telelogue1880
telepheme1882
ring1895
phone call1911
buzz1913
phone message1913
tinkle1921
phone1922
telephone1935
1935 F. W. Crofts Crime at Guildford xxi. 298 A telephone to the manager of the hotel produced the needed information.
1979 P. Nihalani et al. Indian & Brit. Eng. i. 176 ‘Your telephones have not been very clear.’ ‘He gave me a telephone.’..In B[ritish] S[tandard English]..the phrase ‘telephone call’, or simply ‘call’, would be used.
Phrases
P1. by telephone: using or by means of a telephone.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > by means of telephone [phrase]
by telephone1877
1877 Boston Daily Globe 13 Feb. 5/2 (heading) Sent by telephone.
1882 J. E. Kingsbury Telephone 36 Policemen on the beat are required to report themselves by telephone to the central police office.
1960 5th Rep. Select Comm. Estimates 61/1 in Parl. Papers 1959–60 (H.C. 274) VI. 321 If we are told by telephone that a building which has not yet been listed is on the point of being demolished, we put it on a list containing that building alone.
2010 Crossroads (Manitoba) 30 Apr. 24 Contact the municipal office by telephone for verification of costs.
P2. on the telephone.
a. Using or by means of a telephone; engaged in a telephone conversation; (also) calling on the telephone.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > by means of telephone [phrase] > connected with telephone system
on the telephone1883
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > by means of telephone [phrase] > speaking on the telephone
on the telephone1883
1883 N.Y. Times 22 July 9/2 (heading) An ingenious burglar. He calls up the police on the telephone with cheerful results.
1900 C. H. Chambers Tyranny of Tears i. 36 (The telephone bell rings)... There's some one on the telephone—forgive me. (Goes to telephone.)
1925 F. S. Fitzgerald Great Gatsby ii. 35 Mrs. Wilson called up several people on the telephone.
1963 K. Amis One Fat Englishman xi. 126 Hearing her voice on the telephone in the next room brought an unwelcome reminder of the small hours.
1971 J. Kerr When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit i. 13 Bertha the maid came in to tell Mama that there was someone on the telephone.
1993 News at Six Summer 5/3 If you are on the telephone to a client, you can time the call.
2005 J. M. Coetzee Slow Man iv. 24 ‘Can't you find me someone regular?’ he asks Mrs Putts on the telephone.
b. Chiefly British. Connected to the telephone system. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1885 List of Subscribers Exchange Syst. (United Telephone Co.) (ed. 6) 18 Other people have their own tradesmen, who are doubtless also on the telephone.
1905 F. Young Sands of Pleasure ii. iv. 208 The hotel in the Rue de Calais was not on the telephone.
1935 ‘Sapper’ Bulldog Drummond at Bay vii. 141 The cottage is not on the telephone.
1977 B. Pym Quartet in Autumn xiv. 118 It was a pity she wasn't on the telephone for it would have been so much easier to have a chat or arrange a meeting that way.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.
telephone caller n.
ΚΠ
1897 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 24 Aug. 342/2 Look out for the unknown telephone caller.
1948 ‘J. Tey’ Franchise Affair x. 103 Your telephone callers: were they male or female?
2015 Somerset Guardian (Nexis) 29 Jan. 14 A telephone caller pretending to be an officer from the Metropolitan Police Force.
telephone company n.
ΚΠ
1877 Sullivan County (Indiana) Union 5 Sept. 1/5 The New York telephone company have in practical operation a new kind of a telephone, which..bids fair to become an article of every day use.
1925 G. Kelly Craig's Wife ii. 92 The operator didn't give the address, of course; it's against the telephone company's rules.
2005 Fairlady (Cape Town) Feb. 139/1 Voice-operated Internet protocol..is causing a major rethink for telephone companies worldwide.
telephone engineer n.
ΚΠ
1881 North-China Herald 25 Oct. 16/3 Having an experienced telephone engineer and the material on the spot, the Company is ready to start the work.
1932 Science 4 Mar. 256/2 As a telephone engineer I get a tremendous kick..merely in looking out of the car window and seeing such a simple thing as the pole line which carries the transcontinental circuits.
2014 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 17 July 5 Woodpeckers are causing a whole lot of trouble for telephone engineers by pecking holes in telegraph poles.
telephone equipment n.
ΚΠ
1881 St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat 13 Feb. 6/7 A portable telephone equipment..deserves notice by its simplicity.
1944 Fortune Mar. 201/1 The good electrical characteristics of magnesium make it a logical weight-saving metal for..telephone equipment.
2006 D. Mercer Telephone iv. 57 Farmers would often purchase their basic telephone equipment via mail order.
telephone link n.
ΚΠ
1901 Indianapolis Sun 22 Aug. 3/3 The missing telephone link between the two oceans will begin at once.
1971 R. Brewer Approach to Print iii. 48 The facsimile transmission of images by telephone link or radio link over distances is an important printing development.
2002 P. Augar & J. Palmer Rise Player Manager v. 101 Everyone is invited to head office for it but if they can't come, or don't want to, there are video and telephone links.
telephone network n.
ΚΠ
1882 Manch. Guardian 23 Feb. 4/6 The extension of the telephone network.
1979 U.S. News & World Rep. 15 Oct. 66/3 The nation's telephone network will become even more sophisticated.
2005 Guardian 7 Apr. (Life section) 18/5 Each plane will have a small GSM pico-cell that will be connected to the telephone network via a satellite link.
telephone office n.
ΚΠ
1878 G. H. Lewes Jrnl. 21 Mar. in ‘G. Eliot’ Lett. (1956) VII. 16 We went to the Telephone office to have the Telephone explained and demonstrated.
1918 Monthly Rev. U.S. Bureau Labor Statistics Feb. 8 Eighteen of these 53 women were employed in stores.., and 5 in telephone offices.
2014 M. E. Hegland Days of Revol. p. xvi I joined the long lines of people waiting at the telephone office in Shiraz.
telephone service n.
ΚΠ
1877 Salt Lake Daily Tribune 20 Dec. The chief of the telephone service.
1948 Life 6 Sept. 1/2 (advt.) These men and women..make it possible for America to have the finest telephone service in the world.
2014 E. Brynjolfsson & A. McAfee Second Machine Age viii. 111 A simple switch to..free calls like Skype instead of a traditional telephone service can make billions of dollars disappear from companies' revenues.
telephone set n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > telephone
telephone instrument1844
telephone1864
phone1884
telephone set1884
set?1891
tubec1899
handset1901
blower1922
the horn1945
satellite telephone1961
dog1979
satellite phone1982
1884 Nature 10 Apr. 555/2 The combined system at each end of the line will then consist of the telephone-set T1, the telegraph instruments.., [etc.]
1911 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 552/1 Each telephone set was equipped with a special key.
2014 P. F. Varadi Sun above Horizon xli. 448 Today corporations exist, which make and sell telephone sets, but none of them is a descendent of Bell.
telephone system n.
ΚΠ
1877 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 9 Feb. 3/1 It is simply as a result of the constant attention paid by Prof. Bell to the mechanism of the human voice, that he has devised his telephone system.
1939 C. H. Madge & T. Harrisson Brit. by Mass-observ. ii. 94 In fact, the telephone system became disorganised owing to the tremendous number of calls.
2008 Independent 6 Oct. 23/3 The islanders have satellite television, an affordable telephone system, and sealed roads.
telephone table n.
ΚΠ
1895 N.Y. Times 13 Nov. 8/7 An order taking all the policemen off duty at the telephone tables.
1977 M. Russell Dial Death ii. i. 39 The figure slumped across the telephone table.
2015 D. Black Fast Shuffle xxviii. 104 He searched on the telephone table and found a pencil stub.
b.
(a) attributive. Designating a component part of a telephone or telephone system, as telephone cable, telephone jack, telephone socket, etc.
ΚΠ
1880 London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 5th Ser. 9 126 A telephone-cable should have a pair of exceedingly fine insulated wires of the very highest conductivity pretty close together in a large insulating sheath.
1884 Science 12 Sept. 224/2 Some peculiar construction of telephone-cable to get rid of the ‘cross-talk’.
1910 Telephony 6 Aug. 147/1 The supervisor will thereupon insert her telephone plug into the nearest supervisor's jack.
1922 Bell Telephone Q. 1 60 The telephone amplifier enabled the audience to hear the conversation and music in Havana and in San Francisco.
1964 Clearing House 38 446/1 Ordinary telephone jacks have been installed in four or five rooms in each central school.
1972 Times 1 Apr. 13/5 Readily moveable office furniture and thousands of telephone sockets to accommodate different desk arrangements give us this flexibility.
1997 Icon Thoughtstyle Mag. Apr. 49 (caption) Here at the center of a telephone cable, copper wire is the still-active grandfather of all communication technologies.
2005 People (Nexis) 4 Sept. 19 If I get one more cold call about cheap calls I'm going to rip the telephone socket out of the wall.
2016 Sun (Nexis) 12 Apr. 36 I ring and give all the information required using my telephone keypad.
(b)
telephone bell n.
ΚΠ
1878 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 16 May The clamor of the telephone bell became unbearable to those in the room.
1971 K. Amis Girl, 20 (1973) i. 40 On the desk, the telephone bell pinged.
2011 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 24 Apr. The noise was terrific, what with telephone bells ringing and shells bursting nearby.
telephone cord n.
ΚΠ
1878 Sci. Amer. 9 Nov. 289/2 New forms of flexible telephone cords.
1966 ‘A. Hall’ 9th Directive xv. 143 I..fiddled with the telephone cord.
2004 Independent (Compact ed.) 13 Apr. (Review section) 4/5 Where was the telephone cord? He gave me that don't-be-an-idiot look and explained that he was connecting wirelessly.
telephone handset n.
ΚΠ
1901 U.S. Patent 673,039 9/2 The apparatus whereby a signal is transmitted to a distance by the weight of the telephone hand set when placed on the switch-hook.
1958 Life 10 Nov. 131/1 (advt.) This ‘mechanical voice’ testing machine gives the last of dozens of tests to a telephone handset.
2010 K. Tranter Legacy xvii. 238 As I passed I saw him raise a telephone handset to his ear.
telephone switchboard n.
ΚΠ
1880 U.S. Patent 226,991 1/1 I, T. Gardner Ellsworth, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Telephone Switch-Boards.
1917 J. Martin Diary 5 June in Sapper Martin (2010) 70 It was a rotten business working a telephone switchboard with a gas helmet on.
2015 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 8 Jan. 24 When his first record..was played..the telephone switchboard was immediately flooded with calls from listeners asking for the song to be played again.
telephone transmitter n.
ΚΠ
1877 J. Cook Sound & Physical Basis Music 107 What analogy does the Telephone transmitter bear to the human tympanum?
1917 Pop. Sci. Monthly July 3/1 Each actor is equipped with a tiny wireless telephone transmitter, and his speech is sent through the ether by ‘radio’ to a receiving station.
2005 R. L. Freeman Fund. Telecommunications (ed. 2) v. 93 An acoustic pressure wave is set up, reproducing..the original sound wave from the distant telephone transmitter.
telephone wire n.
ΚΠ
1877 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 10 Apr. The music was heard in the associated rooms here on our wire, which had no connection with the telephone wire, beyond following the same telegraph poles.
1978 ‘A. York’ Tallant for Disaster xii. 172 I want a start made on getting the telephone wires back up again.
2015 Yorks. Evening Post (Nexis) 30 June Telephone wires were damaged in Aysgarth Road.
c.
(a) With the sense ‘conducted or conveyed by telephone’, as telephone booking, telephone consultation, etc.
ΚΠ
1909 Irish Times 16 Apr. 6/2 (advt.) Telephone Bookings for each evening must be paid for by 6 o'clock.
1955 Pop. Mech. Nov. 62/1 (advt.) No telephone canvassing.
1975 Flying Feb. 22/2 I called FSS for a predawn telephone briefing.
1995 R. Waller in I. Crewe & B. Gosschalk Polit. Communications xiv. 185 A radical change of methodology such as the adoption of telephone polling.
2006 Independent 5 Oct. 8/2 Penny Campbell had two face-to-face appointments and six telephone consultations over four days of the bank holiday weekend.
(b)
telephone conversation n.
ΚΠ
1878 T. A. Edison in N. Amer. Rev. 126 535 Were..our telephone-conversation automatically recorded.
1961 M. Beadle These Ruins are Inhabited (1963) x. 137 While waiting..I caught a fragment of another subscriber's telephone conversation.
2013 Eastern Daily Press (Norwich) (Nexis) 16 Mar. An investigation into how often telephone conversations have been secretly recorded.
telephone counselling n.
ΚΠ
1953 Bristol (Pa.) Courier 4 Dec. 4/4 Two courses in telephone counseling were for supervisors in the state service.
1994 Mental Illness (Dept. of Health) 12/2 Depressives Anonymous..supplements help from the medical profession via group therapy, telephone counselling and a newsletter.
2006 J. E. Wilson & G. Syme Objectives & Outcomes iii. 51 Telephone counselling and Internet counselling provide a new and expanding context for psychotherapy practice.
telephone interview n.
ΚΠ
1881 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 20 Aug. 3/6 A mistake which occurred in a telephone interview with him late last night.
1959 Times 9 Jan. 13/5 Professor Blagonravov had not given any telephone interview to any newspaper.
2012 B. J. Gabrys & J. A. Langdale How to succeed as Scientist viii. 81 A telephone interview misses non-verbal messages.
telephone message n.
ΚΠ
1877 Sat. Rev. 24 Nov. 646/2 Post-cards are bad enough, but telephone messages would be infinitely worse.
1982 A. Brookner Providence ix. 109 Supposing there is a telephone message waiting for me at the hotel?
2008 C. J. Sullivan Chesapeake Bay Retrievers 12 I was left a telephone message..by a gentleman by the name of Ferdinand Latrobe.
telephone poll n.
ΚΠ
1914 Union Postal Clerk Mar. 18/2 Committee action on nominations..is determined by telephone polls.
1990 Times Educ. Suppl. 9 Nov. 19/3 The apparent discrepancies between the survey..and the Government's own telephone poll..rest largely on differences of definition.
2008 M. Blackman Mind your Diet vi. 54 A telephone poll of 2,250 people..found those on a diet would like to drop 29 pounds on average.
telephone survey n.
ΚΠ
1922 Brownsville (Texas) Daily Herald 27 May 1/3 He made a telephone survey of the county this morning, with the following results.
1976 National Observer (U.S.) 13 Mar. 1/6 The Knight-Ridder newspapers asked a similar question in a telephone survey in January and found 81 per cent agreement.
2015 Observer (Gladstone, Queensland) (Nexis) 8 Apr. 5 Data from the confidential telephone surveys will provide important information.
C2. Objective.
telephone answerer n.
ΚΠ
1881 Albion (Indiana) New Era 24 Feb. What this country wants is a patent automatic telephone answerer.
1975 Washington Post 26 Jan. (Business & Finance section) 8/3 Telephone answerers who work on commission insist the prospective client come in for a free interview.
2009 New Yorker 1 June 80/3 Jobs as a valet and a telephone answerer..were brief.
telephone answering n. and adj.
ΚΠ
1926 N.Y. Times 26 Sept. xii. 22/5 (advt.) Free rent in private office, in return telephone answering services required.
1950 Janesville (Wisconsin) Gaz. 9 June (advt.) 25/6 Wireless automatic telephone answering machine.
2002 P. Rabinowitz Black & White & Noir ix. 230 Film noir obsessively dwells on devices that mechanically reproduce and transmit the voice—Mike Hammer's telephone answering machine in Kiss Me Deadly, [etc.].
telephone user n.
ΚΠ
1880 N.Y. Times 28 July 2/4 This is the best thing that could have happened in the interests of telephone users.
1931 H. S. Williams Bk. of Marvels 122 The average user of radio-receivers probably gives no more thought to the origin of these words than the telephone user gives to the origin of the call-bell.
2000 D. D'Souza Virtue of Prosperity Introd. p. xiii If the number of telephone users in a Third World country triples,..suddenly more people find they need phones.
C3. † telephone stud n. Obsolete rare an electrical contact in a telephone or system involving a telephone, in the form of a metallic stud.The exact nature and role of the stud is not clear in all cases.
telephone bill n. = phone bill n. at phone n.2 Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > telephone bill
telephone bill1889
phone bill1936
society > trade and finance > management of money > keeping accounts > account or statement of > [noun] > invoice or bill > types of
long bill1616
by-bill1732
house bill1754
gas bill1816
advice note1834
pro forma1836
wash-bill1873
telephone bill1889
phone bill1936
1889 St. Paul (Minnesota) Daily News 6 Apr. 8/3 I just paid a telephone bill of $10.60 for rental and extras.
1935 C. Isherwood Mr. Norris changes Trains viii. 117 In the present state of Arthur's finances, it was hardly to be expected that he would have settled his telephone bill.
2005 Daily Tel. 31 Oct. 3/1 The Foreign Office has been left with a £500,000 telephone bill after a satellite phone belonging to a British diplomat was stolen in Baghdad.
telephone book n. = telephone directory n.; cf. phone book n. at phone n.2 Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > telephone directory
telephone directory1879
telephone book1883
book1885
directory1908
phone book1921
1883 Wheelman Sept. 415/2 Many a time have I searched the telephone-book for No. 8,216.
1975 D. Lodge Changing Places iii. 132 I got out the telephone book and began ringing round.
2011 New Yorker 14 Feb. 29/2 The screenwriter..must have stayed up nights with a telephone book in order to find crunchy names for his characters.
telephone booth n. = phone booth n. at phone n.2 Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > telephone booth
call box1877
telephone box1878
call office1882
call room1882
pay station1888
telephone booth1888
public telephone1889
phone box1890
telephone kiosk1890
phone booth1904
coin-box1906
box1922
kiosk1928
booth1930
phone kiosk1955
paybox1975
1888 N.Y. Times 27 Oct. 1/6 The telegraph and telephone booths..were loaded down with floral displays.
1956 New Statesman 18 Aug. 180/3 We had to think about finding a telephone booth from which to ring in a preliminary story.
2007 E. Danticat Brother, I'm Dying i. ix. 103 The three of us would squeeze into a narrow telephone booth..and try to talk with my parents.
telephone box n. †(a) the box housing the components of a telephone (obsolete); (b) a kiosk containing a public payphone, a phone booth; = phone box n. at phone n.2 Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > telephone booth
call box1877
telephone box1878
call office1882
call room1882
pay station1888
telephone booth1888
public telephone1889
phone box1890
telephone kiosk1890
phone booth1904
coin-box1906
box1922
kiosk1928
booth1930
phone kiosk1955
paybox1975
1878 Times of India 17 Jan. 3/3 I am told that a good set of telephone boxes costs fifty guineas.
1880 Newport (Rhode Island) Daily News 16 Apr. Police Telephone Box, corner Washington and Bridge streets.
1923 F. Swinnerton Young Felix iv. xix. § 1 Felix replaced the receiver and shot out of the telephone-box.
2010 J. O'Connor Ghost Light x. 176 He barely notices the old woman near the telephone box on the corner.
telephone call n. †(a) the sound made by a ringing telephone (obsolete); (b) an instance of contacting someone by telephone; a telephone conversation.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > signals or tones
call signal1853
telephone call1878
tone1878
ring-off1885
busy tone1902
buzz1913
dialling tone1917
dial tone1920
ringtone1921
ringing tone1922
pip1929
pip-pip-pip1936
logatom1937
pay-tone1958
ringtone1984
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > call or message
call1878
telephone call1878
telelogue1880
telepheme1882
ring1895
phone call1911
buzz1913
phone message1913
tinkle1921
phone1922
telephone1935
1878 Sci. Amer. Suppl. 15 June 2040/1 The present writer many months ago designed a telephone-call based upon this principle, in which a light spring presses against the edge of a finely-milled wheel.
1881 N.Y. Times 20 Nov. 9/4 He received a telephone call to come immediately to Cruttenden's stable.
1923 Irish Monthly July 358 The doctor's wife will awaken at a cry from her child, but will not awaken at the telephone call.
1980 I. Murdoch Nuns & Soldiers iv. 243 The Count was sitting..in torment, waiting for her telephone call.
2012 Flare (Nexis) 15 Dec. There is no law in the country that allows the secret services to tape telephone calls.
telephone concert n. now historical a musical performance listened to by telephone.
ΚΠ
1855 Observer 28 Jan. 1/1 The remarkable scientific novelty..of Professor Wheatstone's Experiments on the Transmission of Sound, illustrated by a Telephone Concert.
1922 L. Mumford Story of Utopias viii. 167 The telephone concerts and sermons which astoundingly anticipate by thirty-odd years the radio broadcasting service.
2010 Atlantic Online (Nexis) 13 Oct. London hotels offered telephone concerts to guests. You spent ten minutes on the end of a receiver while an orchestra played on the other end of town.
telephone dating n. (a) the action or practice of arranging or conducting a date (date n.2 8a) on the telephone (rare); (b) the use of telephone services such as chatlines or recorded-message services to seek potential romantic partners.
ΚΠ
1979 D. Cooper How to be Happy though Young vi. 75 Telephone Dating... The boy should do the telephoning, just as he is the one to ask for the dates.
1991 Gay Times Mar. (Advt. Insert) 5/1 Data-Mate Specialist lines. Telephone dating. Just dial and listen.
2010 San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News (Nexis) 1 Aug. Online dating, speed dating and telephone dating are just three popular ways of meeting singles.
telephone dial n. a disc with numbered finger holes on a telephone, rotated a particular distance for each digit of the number being called; = dial n.1 6b.Telephone dials have been largely superseded by keypads in modern telephones.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > telephone > parts of telephone
induction coil1837
ferrotype1857
telephone receiver1875
mouthpiece1877
receiver1877
microphone1878
telephone trumpet1879
magneto bell1882
magneto call bella1884
rest1883
hook1885
receptor1898
telephone dial1898
ringer1899
dial1900
Button A (or B)1922
switch hook1922
phone bell1924
hybrid coil1925
cradle1929
dial wheel1938
hybrid transformer1941
scriber1968
fascia1973
1898 App. Jrnls. House of Representatives N.Z. (3rd Sess. 13th Parl.) III. H.–10. 45 (table) Telephone-dial switch.
1972 ‘E. McBain’ Sadie when she Died viii. 81 There is still all day tomorrow to twirl those little holes in the telephone dial and ring up this or that hot number.
2006 Why don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? (2007) v. 119 When the telephones acquired push buttons in a grid the ordering of the buttons was carried over from the old telephone dial.
telephone directory n. a book listing alphabetically the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the people and/or businesses in a particular area.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > telephone directory
telephone directory1879
telephone book1883
book1885
directory1908
phone book1921
1879 Newport (Rhode Island) Daily News 6 June Persons desirous of advertising in the Telephone Directory will please hand in their advertisements to O. M. Atkinson.
1969 B. Weil Dossier IX iii. 20 The Service are always up to date with their telephone directories.
2009 Texas Monthly (Nexis) Feb. 36 You may simply peruse the telephone directory.
telephone drum n. rare †(a) a cylindrical chamber forming the part of a signalling telephone (see sense 1b) in which sound is generated (obsolete); (b) a drum used for communicating messages over a distance, esp. one capable of producing a range of different tones, thus enabling complex messages to be expressed (cf. talking drum n. at talking adj. Compounds).
ΚΠ
1844 Illustr. London News 24 Aug. 118/1 The Indicator..to be placed on the Telephone Drum, to denote the signals made... The Telephone gamut notes are arranged for numbers either by the public or private key.
1890 F. E. Guinness Congo Recoll. ii. 30 The missionaries at the Equator Station had once practical evidence of the usefulness of the telephone drum, and of the fulness and accuracy of the news conveyed by it.
2008 Guardian 7 Mar. (Film & Music section) 14/2 The Manjaco and Balanta, with their rounded, lilting rhythms and ‘telephone drums’ that beat out messages to the neighbours, come from the coastal region.
telephone exchange n. a central office or other location where connections between telephone lines are made (originally by a switchboard operator, now usually automatically) so that calls reach their intended recipient; a switchboard or other device used for this purpose.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > exchange
telephone exchange1878
local exchange1879
call office1882
central1883
exchange1887
private branch exchange1904
PBX1914
zone centre1934
1878 Alton (Illinois) Daily Tel. 29 Apr. St Louis has a telephone exchange at 417 Olive street.
1928 Daily Tel. 6 Mar. 6/3 Bishopsgate automatic telephone exchange..came into operation at midnight on Saturday with the transfer of 1,400 subscribers from the manual system.
1960 M. B. R. Cawkell et al. Falkland Islands viii. 93 Improved sanitation and street lighting, main drainage and a telephone exchange.
2014 Guardian 31 July 26/4 BT's fibre to the remote node..system brings fibre-optic cables from the local telephone exchange to the street.
telephone extension n. (a) extension of the telephone network so as to connect a new town, region, etc. (now rare); (b) a subsidiary telephone, either attached to the main line or on a line leading from the main switchboard in a large building; = extension n. 9h.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > telephone > types of
microtelephone1879
field telephone1880
telephone extension1881
pay telephone1886
home telephone1893
substation1897
extension1906
railophone1911
dial phone1917
payphone1919
dial telephone1921
autophone1922
mobile telephone1930
viewphone1932
videophone1944
mobile phone1945
car phone1946
video telephone1947
speaker-phone1955
picture telephone1956
princess phone1959
touchtone telephone1961
touch-tone1962
touchtone phone1963
picture phone1964
Trimphone1965
princess telephone1966
vision-telephone1966
visiophone1971
princess1973
warbler1973
landline1977
cardphone1978
feature phone1979
smartphone1980
mobile1982
cell phone1983
Vodafone1984
cellular1985
mobile device1989
brick1990
satphone1991
celly1992
burner phone1996
keitai1998
burner2002
1881 N.Y. Times 14 July 3/7 Telephone extension... The wires are to run in all the cities and villages of the United States.
1902 Indianapolis Sun 17 Dec. 2/3 If the telephone at the hospital rang when Smith called, it was not heard by the attendants... He asked the health board for a telephone extension.
1950 Irish Times 7 June 1/8 New telephone extensions are being laid in many parts of Clare.
1977 ‘J. le Carré’ Honourable Schoolboy ii. xiv. 322 A telephone extension hung on the wall.
2002 Fine Homebuilding Mar. 93/3 A wireless network can't be used to add a new telephone extension as cat 5e cables can.
telephone girl n. now historical a girl or woman employed at a switchboard to connect telephone calls; a female telephone operator; cf. hello girl n. at hello int. and n. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > operator
telephone operator1877
telephonist1879
telephone girl1881
hello girl1883
switch-clerk1889
teleoperator1945
trunk1947
operator1972
1881 Daily Herald (Columbus, Indiana) 8 Aug. 3/3 Should the telephone girl wear ‘yaller’ shoes in summer?
1935 G. Greene in Spectator 9 Aug. 222/2 With the help of a telephone girl,..he sets out to solve the mystery.
2014 V. Mayer in C. Carter et al. Routledge Compan. to Media & Gender iv. 54 The social construction of the ‘telephone girl’ was born.
telephone helpline n. a telephone service which specializes in providing information, advice, and help with specific problems; cf. help-line n. at help n. Additions.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > telephone services
answering service1904
information1910
speaking clock1934
talking clock1936
TIM1936
telebus1942
wake-up service1946
subscriber trunk dialling1952
freephone1959
telephone hotline1961
WATS1962
call waiting1963
night line1970
phone-in1970
telephone helpline1970
help-line1980
line1983
Cellnet1984
chat line1984
Vodafone1984
telepoint1987
callback1992
1970 Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach, Calif.) 19 July b7/4 The telephone helpline is one project which is drawing [sc. Outreach for Youth director] Scruggs' attention.
1990 TV Times 14 Oct. 49/6 Telephone helplines are open for three hours after the programme.
2000 Evening News (Edinb.) (Nexis) 31 Aug. 17 Sleep Scotland has already established over 50 sleep clinics in Scotland, but this is the first telephone helpline.
telephone hotline n. a direct telephone line set up for a specific purpose; (also) a dedicated telephone line for the public to use in order to make rapid commercial transactions, obtain emergency help, contribute opinions, etc.; cf. hotline n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > telephone services
answering service1904
information1910
speaking clock1934
talking clock1936
TIM1936
telebus1942
wake-up service1946
subscriber trunk dialling1952
freephone1959
telephone hotline1961
WATS1962
call waiting1963
night line1970
phone-in1970
telephone helpline1970
help-line1980
line1983
Cellnet1984
chat line1984
Vodafone1984
telepoint1987
callback1992
1961 Redlands (Calif.) Daily Facts 10 July 14/1 The telephone ‘hot line’ is aimed at improving [airplane] hand-offs.
1990 Lesbian & Gay Pride 45/3 The appeal will be setting up a telephone hotline for credit card donations.
2002 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 6 Aug. 23/1 Punters can make a bet through the company's website or telephone hotline whether a stock, index or currencies will rise or fall.
telephone instrument n. †(a) a device used for signalling by loud sounds; = sense 1b (obsolete); (b) an instrument used as part of a telephone system; = sense 3a (now chiefly Indian English).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > telephone
telephone instrument1844
telephone1864
phone1884
telephone set1884
set?1891
tubec1899
handset1901
blower1922
the horn1945
satellite telephone1961
dog1979
satellite phone1982
1844Telephone instrument [see sense 1b].
1880 Decatur (Illinois) Daily Republican 27 Jan. Haworth's..establishment..has a telephone instrument in position, and is now connected with the exchange.
1914 A. B. Smith & W. L. Campbell Automatic Teleph. vi. 131 The telephone instrument follows the general form which is so popular on the Continent.
1996 Outlook (New Delhi) 28 Aug. 49/2 The country's first ISO 9001 certification for design, development, manufacturing and servicing of telephone instruments.
telephone kiosk n. a kiosk containing a public payphone, a phone booth; = phone box n. at phone n.2 Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > telephone booth
call box1877
telephone box1878
call office1882
call room1882
pay station1888
telephone booth1888
public telephone1889
phone box1890
telephone kiosk1890
phone booth1904
coin-box1906
box1922
kiosk1928
booth1930
phone kiosk1955
paybox1975
1890 Irish Times 30 Aug. 9/5 The sound..is heard very clearly and distinctly in the Telephone Kiosk.
1931 G. B. Shaw Fabian Ess. Socialism (rev. ed.) Pref. p. viii A couple of pennies to drop into the slot in a telephone kiosk.
2005 C. Cleave Incendiary 214 I leaned back on the wall of the telephone kiosk.
telephone line n. a cable or wire forming part of a telephone system; a telephone connection or service; = line n.2 1e(a).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > [noun] > line
wire1813
line1847
wire line1848
loop1863
landline1865
saddle wire1876
telephone line1877
concentric cable1888
Pupin cable1904
multiple twin1922
quad1922
twisted pair1923
star quad1927
music line1929
coaxial cable1934
coax1945
1877 Boston Daily Advertiser 5 Apr. The first telephone line that was ever established.
1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 261 Music line, broad-band circuit for carrying programme (including speech), as distinct from a telephone line.
2011 A. Giridharadas India Calling iv. 125 It was..harder still to get a telephone line from the bureaucracy-ridden government monopoly.
telephone manner n. a person's manner when speaking over the telephone (chiefly with modifying adjective); cf. telephone voice n.
ΚΠ
1903 Telephone Mag. June 248/1 The person who has the better telephone manner, who can talk with deliberation and coolness, has the best of the argument.
1957 Chicago Tribune 1 Apr. iv. 15/8 A pleasing telephone manner that will make friends and influence people.
1990 West Austral. (Perth) 29 July 75/4 (advt.) We need the services of a highly motivated individual with..a professional telephone manner.
2005 H. Mantel Beyond Black iii. 52 Her telephone manner was cold and faintly satirical.
telephone number n. (a) = phone number n. at phone n.2 Compounds 2; (b) colloquial a large number, esp. with reference to a large sum of money; frequently in to be talking telephone numbers; also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > plurality > great number, numerousness > [noun] > a large number or multitude
sandc825
thousandc1000
un-i-rimeOE
legiona1325
fernc1325
multitudec1350
hundred1362
abundancec1384
quantityc1390
sight1390
felec1394
manyheada1400
lastc1405
sortc1475
infinityc1480
multiplie1488
numbers1488
power1489
many1525
flock1535
heapa1547
multitudine1547
sort1548
myriads1555
myriads1559
infinite1563
tot-quot1565
dickera1586
multiplea1595
troop1596
multitudes1598
myriad1611
sea-sands1656
plurality1657
a vast many1695
dozen1734
a good few1756
nation1762
vast1793
a wheen (of)1814
swad1828
lot1833
tribe1833
slew1839
such a many1841
right smart1842
a million and one1856
horde1860
a good several1865
sheaf1865
a (bad, good, etc.) sortc1869
immense1872
dunnamuch1875
telephone number1880
umpty1905
dunnamany1906
skit1913
umpteen1919
zillion1922
gang1928
scrillion1935
jillion1942
900 number1977
gazillion1978
fuckload1984
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > number
number1879
telephone number1880
home number1898
phone number1911
silent number1913
wrong number1930
4111931
9991937
area code1946
9111968
800 number1971
cell number1988
0800 number1988
digit1989
1880 Burlington (Iowa) Daily Hawk-eye 29 May Opposite his name you will find his telephone number.
1943 J. Phelan Lett. from Big House 141 His favourite word was ‘million’... In every jail.., his kind are fairly common. English and American convicts have an expressive term for their conversation. They call it ‘talking telephone numbers’.
1950 T. S. Eliot Cocktail Party i. i. 17 You have the address, and the telephone number?
1988 Sunday Tel. 7 Aug. 29/1 An industry used to telephone-number increases.
2006 A. P. Harper Housewife Up 319 You ain't got enough money, mate... No offence, mate. But we're talking telephone numbers.
2007 A. Theroux Laura Warholic xxxiv. 555 She gave out her telephone number with abandon.
telephone operator n. (a) (in early use) a person who operates a telephone; (later) a person who works at the switchboard of a telephone exchange; cf. operator n. 6a; (b) a company providing a telephone service.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > operator
telephone operator1877
telephonist1879
telephone girl1881
hello girl1883
switch-clerk1889
teleoperator1945
trunk1947
operator1972
1877 Rochester (Indiana) Union Spy 22 June 3/3 The city telegraph operator at Peru, ‘took in’ a few citizens of that city to hear the telephone operator at Laporte.
1904 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 15 42 Tests of auditory acuity should..be applied to railroad men, telegraph and telephone operators, the police, soldiers, [etc.]
1964 M. McLuhan Understanding Media xxiv. 243 Boors, who inundate defenseless telephone operators.
1984 Times 9 Nov. 2/4 The 25-year licence gives the wholly-owned subsidiary of Cable & Wireless full status as a telephone operator.
1997 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 26 Feb. a1 They have sold virtually every major state enterprise in Britain, from coal mines..to the telephone operator.
2003 L. Faderman Naked in Promised Land x. 177 She'd been a carhop before she joined the magazine crew, a telephone operator before that.
2008 G. Martinez Lat. Amer. Telecommunications iii. 55 In a short time Telefónica had become the major telephone operator in Latin America.
telephone pad n. (a) a writing pad for noting telephone messages, etc.; (b) a (numeric or alphanumeric) keypad on a telephone.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > writing materials > material to write on > paper > [noun] > pad of paper > notebook
bookOE
notebook1565
tablebook1582
manuscript book1593
notary1651
pocketbook1660
tablets1773
jotter1882
pencil tablet1882
ring book1891
carnet1897
telephone pad1900
notepad1922
copy1943
1900 Sci. Amer. 7 July 14/2 Telephone pad holder.
1967 A. Wilson No Laughing Matter iii. 386 Jack, seeing the telephone pad, did not want to break the mood by asking Marcus if he had rung Gladys.
1972 Fort Pierce (Florida) News Tribune 26 Mar. 24/6 It [sc. the Datatrol system] employs ordinary touchtone telephone pads to communicate with the computer.
1995 T. Hopkins Selling for Dummies ii. 21 You can use the alphabet on the telephone pad to ask your potential buyers to call 344-MARY.
2002 J. Buonanno Secrets of Small Town v. 23 There was..a bloody fingerprint on the telephone pad that seemed to indicate that..he had made an attempt to call for help.
2010 P. Duncker Strange Case of Composer & his Judge iii. 47 He wrote her name upon his telephone pad.
telephone pole n. chiefly North American a tall (usually wooden) pole or mast used to carry telephone wires above the ground; cf. telegraph pole n. at telegraph n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > [noun] > pole
telegraph post1799
telegraph pole1808
telephone pole1879
1879 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Sentinel 26 Sept. The telephone poles are being painted.
1960 J. Updike Rabbit, Run 3 Boys are playing basketball around a telephone pole with a backboard bolted to it.
2011 M. Coakley Tip & Trade xxi. 308 A railway track, a line of electricity towers, and a line of telephone poles ran along the west side of the valley.
telephone receiver n. (in early use) the earpiece of a telephone, in which electrical signals are converted into sound; (in later use chiefly) a complete telephone handset, having both an earpiece and mouthpiece; = receiver n.1 6c.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > telephone > parts of telephone
induction coil1837
ferrotype1857
telephone receiver1875
mouthpiece1877
receiver1877
microphone1878
telephone trumpet1879
magneto bell1882
magneto call bella1884
rest1883
hook1885
receptor1898
telephone dial1898
ringer1899
dial1900
Button A (or B)1922
switch hook1922
phone bell1924
hybrid coil1925
cradle1929
dial wheel1938
hybrid transformer1941
scriber1968
fascia1973
1875 S. A. Norton Elements Physics xvi. 285 There will be a variation in the resistance of the primary circuit which may be reproduced as sound-waves in a distant telephone receiver.
1954 Times 14 Jan. 2/7 Stanley struck him on the hand with a telephone receiver..and ejected him from the shop.
2012 T. Wolfe Back to Blood xxi. 677 He had a telephone receiver at his ear and his eyes fixed upon the screen of his Apple ZBe3 computer.
telephone record n. (a) a recording made using a telephone (obsolete rare); (b) (chiefly in plural) a record of the telephone numbers that have been called using a particular telephone, typically including other information such as the time the call was placed, the duration, the caller's location, etc.
ΚΠ
1888 Eng. Mechanic 24 Aug. 558/2 (heading) The preparation of grammophone and telephone records.
1900 Bull. Internat. Railway Congr. June 1941 Require a telephone record to be kept at stations.
1900 Leicester Chron. & Leics. Mercury 7 July 1/3 The telegraphone..is an instrument which produces an invisible magnetic telephone record on a steel band or wire.
1988 ‘R. Deacon’ Spyclopaedia 45 Studies of telephone records..enabled them to detect the presence of the French agents.
2011 Daily Tel. 21 July 6/1 A ‘black ops’ department..may have illegally hacked private telephone records.
telephone sales n. the activity or business of selling or marketing products or services by means of (chiefly unsolicited) telephone calls; cf. telemarketing n.
ΚΠ
1929 Life 6 Dec. 10/2 (heading) How a telephone sales worker works... Voice: I understand that you are in the market for a new piano... You: But I am not in the market for a new piano.
1953 Jrnl. Marketing 18 186/2 Pierce uses almost every known marketing angle: telephone sales, mail order, door-to-door soliciting, [etc.].
2012 D. P. Wallace & C. Van Fleet Knowl. into Action viii. 184 Many citizens view telephone sales as an extreme intrusion on dinnertime privacy.
telephone sex n. = phone sex n. at phone n.2 Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1982 United Press Internat. Newswire (Nexis) 13 Feb. A South Side man and his wife are suing an entertainment magazine for publishing their home phone number in an ad for a so-called telephone sex service.
1998 Pi Mag. (Univ. Coll. London Union) Nov. 27/1 We all have our vices, but mine is a little more serious than most. I am addicted to telephone sex. I cannot stop calling.
2001 R. Hill Dialogues of Dead xvii. 185 He'd always found the idea of telephone sex a turn-off, but the way he felt now, maybe there was something in it.
telephone soliciting n. originally and chiefly U.S. telemarketing; = phone soliciting n. at phone n.2 Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1919 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 6 Apr. x. 2/6 (advt.) Telephone soliciting and orders taken for professional and business men by educated, experienced business woman who is a good talker.
2006 J. Mutz & K. Murray Fundraising for Dummies (ed. 2) xviii. 281 Telephone soliciting will become less and less effective..as more and more people use call-blocking devices.
telephone solicitor n. originally and chiefly U.S. †(a) a person who sells telephones (obsolete); (b) a telemarketer; = phone solicitor n. at phone n.2 Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > seller > [noun] > one who canvasses or solicits sales > via telephone
telephone solicitor1901
telemarketer1973
1901 Los Angeles Times 19 Oct. 2/1 A wily telephone solicitor today prevailed upon Justice John M. Harlan..to break his law. An article of his constitution prohibited the entrance of telephone instruments into his residence.
1916 N.Y. Times 28 Sept. 20/8 (advt.) Telephone solicitors. Wanted, refined young ladies who have had experience soliciting business over the telephone.
1952 S. Eisenberg How to earn Income selling Products & Services by Phone i. 4/2 If you can handle the English language..you can be a telephone solicitor.
2007 Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo) (Nexis) 9 Feb. 2 Even when the customers refused, the telephone solicitors said, ‘If you don't go through the procedures, you'll be receiving phone calls forever.’
ΚΠ
1881 Electrician 10 Sept. 260/1 Parallel to this is the wire E, leading from telephone stud D to the earth.
1889 W. H. Preece & J. Maier Telephone 111 The object of the Button Telephone is to replace the press button of an ordinary electric bell by a telephone-stud, which permits not only to ring up a person but to converse with him.
1914 U.S. Patent 1,150,239 12/2 It enters the station over line wire connection 42..flowing from thence over wires 249 and 250 to telephone stud 165.
telephone tag n. colloquial (originally and chiefly North American) a situation in which two people attempting to communicate by telephone repeatedly miss one another, often involving one or both people leaving a message asking to be called back; = phone tag n. at phone n.2 Compounds 2; cf. tag n.2 1.In quot. 1969: a situation in which both participants in a call attempt to avoid being the first person who is available to speak on the telephone.
ΚΠ
1969 Daily News (N.Y.) 16 Aug. 4/4 The idea behind telephone tag is never to get on the phone first—even if you're the one who's doing the calling. It works like this: one big shot wants to call another, but he doesn't place the call himself—he's too busy for that. So his secretary dials the number and says, when the other guy gets on the line: ‘One moment please, Mr. Biggie is calling.’ But the other guy, he's not going to stand still for that. So his secretary waits until the caller picks up the phone and she says: ‘He'll be with you in a moment, sir. Would you hold please?’ This could go on all day—and sometimes it does.
1979 Amer. Banker 3 July 7 It installed telephone answering machines on many telephones so people could leave messages and avoid playing the game of ‘telephone tag’, which, it was found, occupied an inordinate number of man-hours.
1995 Sci. Amer. Sept. 53/2 Portable phones and pagers are certainly convenient—after all, two out of three business calls still end in ‘telephone tag’.
2000 Time 6 Nov. 100/2 Workers love IM... It lets them hold virtual meetings anytime and anyplace. No more playing telephone tag.
telephone tap n. a device or connection enabling (usually secret) access to a telephone line, esp. in order to monitor conversations; an act or instance of telephone tapping; a recording made of a conversation monitored via telephone tapping.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > [noun] > listening > eavesdropping > on telephone
telephone tap1903
telephone tapping1903
tap1950
1903 Amer. Telephone Jrnl. 7 Nov. 292/1 When one transmitter is in action, it..causes a variable potential at all of the telephone taps.
1940 Lock Haven (Pa.) Express 31 Jan. 5/7 Detectives had a private room.., with a telephone tap leading from the one house to the other.
1978 S. Brill Teamsters ii. 62 Telephone taps were played on tape recorders in court.
2007 Eye Spy No. 48. 59/1 But what if audio intelligence is beyond the reach of an ordinary telephone tap?
telephone tapper n. a person who taps a telephone or telephone line; a person who engages in telephone tapping.
ΚΠ
1877 N.Y. Tribune 31 Mar. 4/4 Greater scandals than were ever poured into the ear-trumpet of Dame Eleanor Spearing may be absorbed by the telephone tapper.
1959 Manch. Guardian 11 Feb. 9/1 Telephone tappers of a spy network in Tunisia.
2005 C. Murphy Competitive Intelligence vi. 46 The serious consequences if a burglar or telephone tapper gets caught..act as powerful deterrents to resorting to such acute measures.
telephone tapping n. the action or practice of connecting a device to a telephone or telephone line in order to monitor conversations secretly; cf. tapping n.1 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > [noun] > listening > eavesdropping > on telephone
telephone tap1903
telephone tapping1903
tap1950
1903 Electr. World & Engineer 6 Dec. 912/2 (heading) Detective telephone tapping.
1958 Listener 12 June 971/1 Some of the evidence had been obtained by telephone tapping.
2009 ‘R. Keeland’ tr. S. Larsson Girl who kicked Hornets' Nest xxvi. 511 You are under arrest for illegal telephone tapping.
telephone token n. a disc-shaped metal token used instead of a coin to enable use of a public telephone; cf. jeton n.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > other mediums of exchange > [noun] > token used in place of coin > used esp. in machines
telephone token1910
token1934
jeton1942
1910 Colorado Springs Gaz. 25 Apr. 8/6 Lost—Sat eve,..small purse containing about $37 or $38, Lincoln penny and telephone token.
1963 ‘D. Cory’ Hammerhead x. 127 He..asked for a glass of cognac and a telephone token.
2013 D. Darke E. Turkey (Bradt Trav. Guides) 68 As well as selling stamps and telephone tokens/cards, some post offices also exchange foreign cash.
telephone tree n. originally U.S. (a) a planned sequence of telephone calls in which each person called then telephones a number of other people; = phone tree n. at phone n.2 Compounds 2; (b) an automated telephone answering system in which callers choose from a series of recorded menu options and have their calls routed on the basis of their responses.
ΚΠ
1930 Boston Sunday Globe 2 Nov. 3/1 Republican women have systematized the traditional telephone tree of their own leagues and clubs to the task of covering the voting list.
1970 N.Y. Times 20 Apr. 1/8 You'd be surprised how many people don't know how to draw up a telephone tree.
1994 St. Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 13 Feb. 2 Even though I had to go through the now prevalent telephone tree to get to a real person, all went smoothly.
2002 J. Heskett Toothpicks & Logos x. 194 Telephone tree systems..begin by informing callers how important their call is, before leading into an infuriating electronic labyrinth of confusion and non-responsiveness, with no link to a human being.
2014 Northern Argus (Clare, S. Austral.) (Nexis) 27 Oct. Strategies could include..forming a telephone tree to notify group members in the case of an emergency.
telephone trumpet n. now rare and historical the earpiece or mouthpiece of an early type of telephone, so called because of its shape.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > telephone > parts of telephone
induction coil1837
ferrotype1857
telephone receiver1875
mouthpiece1877
receiver1877
microphone1878
telephone trumpet1879
magneto bell1882
magneto call bella1884
rest1883
hook1885
receptor1898
telephone dial1898
ringer1899
dial1900
Button A (or B)1922
switch hook1922
phone bell1924
hybrid coil1925
cradle1929
dial wheel1938
hybrid transformer1941
scriber1968
fascia1973
1879 Iron 9 Aug. 13/1 The height of the note delivered in the telephone trumpet.
1911 M. B. Wells Five Gallons of Gasoline xvi. 298 Biggs..took the telephone trumpet off the hook and rang up Harkaway.
2009 J. Hearn Hazel 207 Hazel had twirled the telephone's cord, like a bracelet, around her right wrist. It tightened uncomfortably as she moved the telephone trumpet from her ear to her mouth.
telephone voice n. an accent, tone of voice, etc., used or adopted by a person when speaking on the telephone, esp. either one that is intended to be particularly clear, engaging, or businesslike, or one which is regarded as affectedly cultivated or pretentious; cf. telephone manner n.
ΚΠ
1881 Detroit Free Press 8 May 9/3 Only one person out of five on the average has a good telephone voice..—pleasant, even, plain and devoid of peculiarities.
1906 Telephony June 382/2 Most men have a telephone voice which they use when telephoning, but immediately afterward drop.
1975 N.Y. Times 10 Nov. w19/2 (advt.) Receptionist/Typist Must have excellent telephone voice.
2002 J. Thompson Wide Blue Yonder i. 30 Her mother's fake, plummy telephone voice when she was talking to somebody she wanted something from.
2009 M. Ali In Kitchen ii. 31 His telephone voice was both clearer and more strained than his normal speaking voice.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
telephonev.
/ˈtɛlᵻfəʊn/, U.S. /ˈtɛləˌfoʊn/ I. Senses relating to telephones and telephone calls.† 2. transitive. To provide or equip with a telephone or telephones. Obsolete.
1.
a. transitive. To convey or send (a message, news, etc.) by telephone. Cf. phone v. 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > communicate with by telephone [verb (transitive)] > communicate a message by telephone
telephone1877
phone1910
to ring in1934
to call in1939
1877 Daily Free Press (Eau Claire, Wisconsin) 8 Feb. The telegraph operators of that city are to have a ball at which the dancing will be to the tunes telephoned from Milwaukee.
1888 Montreal Weekly Witness 13 June 1/4 The news was at once telephoned to Mrs. Cleveland.
1935 E. F. Benson Lucia's Progress vii. 206 Went like hot cakes, ma'am,..and I've just telephoned a repeat order.
1984 Facts on File 26 Oct. 797 f2 The ambassador..had been unprotected by bodyguards despite a threat telephoned to the embassy three weeks earlier.
1999 Daily Tel. 21 Sept. 7/1 The news..was telephoned through to Britain's three-day eventing team in Luhmuhlen, Germany.
b. intransitive. To make a telephone call. In early use frequently with to. Cf. phone v. 1, call v. 25b, ring v.1 14c.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > communicate by telephone [verb (intransitive)]
telephone1877
call1879
phone1885
speak1885
ring1887
to call in1930
1877 Chicago Tribune 10 Mar. 12/3 Perkins telephoned to his wife that he was engaged.
1913 Motor Age 21 Aug. 36/3 Mrs. Flutter's maid discovered that she needed some cleansing preparation for her work, so she telephoned, and the grocer delivered it.
1936 M. de la Roche Whiteoak Harvest xix. 219 Almost every day they telephoned to the drug store for a pint of delicious ice-cream.
1957 V. Nabokov Let. 5 Mar. in Sel. Lett. (1989) 206 We were in the midst of an animated soliloquy when you telephoned.
1996 Independent 29 Jan. ii. 14/2 Having e-mailed customer support a number of times.., I resorted to old technology—and telephoned.
c. transitive. To speak to or call on the telephone. Cf. phone v. 2, call v. 25a, ring v.1 14a.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > communicate with by telephone [verb (transitive)]
telephone1877
call1879
ring1880
to call up1882
phone1889
to give a ring1895
buzz1914
to give (a person) a tinkle1921
to dial up1924
1877 Telegraphic Jrnl. 1 Sept. 201/2 I [sc. Prof. Graham Bell] telephoned the leader of the band.
1894 W. D. Howells in Harper's Mag. Feb. 378 She telephoned you on the impulse of the moment.
1922 H. Morgenthau & F. Strother All in Life-time iv. 59 He..telephoned me to note..Anthony N. Brady's subscription for 1,000 shares.
1952 W. Marchant To be Continued i. 20 I telephoned you yesterday but your answering service told me you were in Connecticut.
2011 Daily Tel. 22 July 33/3 One day he telephoned his employer to say he was ill, then snuck off to Brooklands.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > equip with telephones [verb (transitive)] > provide with telephones
telephone1885
1885 Atlanta Constit. 19 Apr. 6/1 Telephoning the city... Workmen are busily engaged to-day putting up telephone wires around the city.
1901 Speaker 14 Dec. 296/1 The London County Council prepared..estimates for telephoning London in 1898.
1904 Daily News 19 Apr. 2 If the United Kingdom were ‘telephoned’ in the same proportion there would be nearly 800,000 instruments on its various exchange systems, instead of some 250,000 only.
3. transitive. To convey (sound) over a distance. Also figurative. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1877 St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat 16 Sept. 9/2 Words spoken on one side of Gold Canyon are heard with striking clearness upon the other side. The sounds are telephoned across the intervening space, and may be as distinctly noted as if the speaker were standing by the side of the listener.
1908 R. Kipling Lett. to Family vi. 47 I hear the hard trail telephone a far-off horse's feet.
1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers (N.Y. ed.) 36 Almond tree... What are you doing in the December rain?.. Do you telephone the roar of the waters-over-the-earth?
Derivatives
ˈtelephoning n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > other types of sound telecommunication > [noun]
telephoning1877
radiophony1880
photophony1881
sonar1943
pinger1957
side scan1996
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > telephoning
telephoning1877
ringing-up1887
phoning1908
1877 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 5 June (heading) Mid-air telephoning.
1912 Variety 13 Jan. 9/1 There is considerable telephoning to be done.
1971 Daily Tel. 11 June 32/6 The amount of telephoning which has to be done does not justify two receivers at the charity's office.
2004 P. J. Conradi Going Buddhist 147 There was no landline out and—this was the pre-mobile epoch—telephoning was complex and pricey, involving a satellite dish.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1832
v.1877- baselier
- baseliest
- baselike
- baseline
- baseline data
- baseline driver
- baseline game
- baseline value
- baseliner
- baseliners
- baselines
- baseling
- basella
- baseload
- basely
- baseman
- basemen
- basement
- basement apartment
- basement complex
- basement door
- basement flat
- basement kitchen
- basement membrane
- basement principle