telephone
/ˈtɛləˌfoʊn/ noun A1- A telecommunication device which converts data or sounds (usually speech) into electrical signals which are then transmitted to enable two or more people to communicate with each other over a distance; now usually a device having a dial or keypad with numerals for entering a number, etc., to connect with a person, and means (such as a sound or vibration) for alerting one to an incoming call or transmission; also, the handset or receiver of such a device.
- A means of communicating information from one person to another or others.
- Now chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: a simple communication device which converts sounds (usually speech) into mechanical vibrations along a string, wire, etc. · string telephone tin can telephone
- Synonym of Chinese whispers (“a game for several players in which a phrase, whispered by each person in turn to their neighbour, is often unwittingly misunderstood as it is transferred, to humorous effect by the time it reaches the last person and is compared with the original phrase; (figurative) a situation where something is changed or misunderstood as a result of passing through successive people or processes”).
Plural telephones
From the library
The telephone directory lay on the table beside me, and I turned over the pages in a rather hopeless quest.
Here there was nothing of this; Anne knew that outside of her window was a hard street, with a network of telephone wires shutting out the sky, the tramp of alien feet, and a thousand lights gleaming on stranger faces.
"Ralph," he said, "telephone down to the county police and ask the inspector to send up two constables.
The ticker began to reel out jerkily its fitful coils of tape, the desk telephone had a chronic attack of buzzing.
Other matches
Learn telephone in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.