an apparatus, system, or process for transmitting messages or signals to a distant place, especially by means of an electric device consisting essentially of a sending instrument and a distant receiving instrument connected by a conducting wire or other communications channel.
Nautical. an apparatus, usually mechanical, for transmitting and receiving orders between the bridge of a ship and the engine room or some other part of the engineering department.
a telegraphic message.
verb (used with object)
to transmit or send (a message) by telegraph.
to send a message to (a person) by telegraph.
Informal. to divulge or indicate unwittingly (one's intention, next offensive move, etc.), as to an opponent or to an audience; broadcast: The fighter telegraphed his punch and his opponent was able to parry it. If you act nervous too early in the scene, you'll telegraph the character's guilt.
verb (used without object)
to send a message by telegraph.
Origin of telegraph
<French télégraphe (1792) a kind of manual signaling device; see tele-1, -graph
OTHER WORDS FROM telegraph
te·leg·ra·pher[tuh-leg-ruh-fer]; /təˈlɛg rə fər/; especially British, te·leg·ra·phist,nounpre·tel·e·graph,adjectivere·tel·e·graph,verbun·tel·e·graphed,adjective
Obama said, through laughter, according to an eyewitness report of the meeting in The Telegraph.
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Mr Obama said, through laughter, according to an eyewitness report of the meeting in The Telegraph.
Kate Middleton and Prince William's $2m Dinner|Tom Sykes|December 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Telegraph reports that he is fluent in Swahili and a keen zoologist.
How A British Aristocrat Used Big Game Hunter’s Sperm To Get Pregnant Without His Permission|Tom Sykes|December 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“Unlike Turkey or Egypt, we have no art-historical tradition,” he told The Telegraph in 2002.
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“In the long term, I am more worried about biology,” he told The Telegraph.
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She made a few purchases at the drug store and then impulsively entered the telegraph office.
Behind the Green Door|Mildred A. Wirt
In the front room of the house, Kohlvihr sat bung-eyed by a telegraph instrument.
Red Fleece|Will Levington Comfort
He was in for a while yesterday on some telegraph money-order business.
The Young Railroaders|Francis Lovell Coombs
As it was I had too many girls, and at the last minute had to telegraph Malcolm to come and help me out.
The Fifth Wheel|Olive Higgins Prouty
Mercy Curtis had been dropped at the Cheslow railway station, where she had the "second trick" as telegraph operator.
Ruth Fielding in the Great Northwest|Alice B. Emerson
British Dictionary definitions for telegraph
telegraph
/ (ˈtɛlɪˌɡræf, -ˌɡrɑːf) /
noun
a device, system, or process by which information can be transmitted over a distance, esp using radio signals or coded electrical signals sent along a transmission line connected to a transmitting and a receiving instrument
(as modifier)telegraph pole
a message transmitted by such a device, system, or process; telegram
verb
to send a telegram to (a person or place); wire
(tr)to transmit or send by telegraph
(tr)boxinginformalto prepare to deliver (a punch) so obviously that one's opponent has ample time to avoid it
(tr)to give advance notice of (anything), esp unintentionally
(tr)Canadianinformalto cast (votes) illegally by impersonating registered voters
A communications system in which a message in the form of short, rapid electric impulses is sent, either by wire or radio, to a receiving station. Morse code is often used to encode messages in a form that is easily transmitted through electric impulses.