Telephone

Quick meaning: Telephone is a noun meaning (countable, figurative) A means of communicating information from one person to another or others.

Meaning

(countable, figurative) A means of communicating information from one person to another or others.

More Meanings

1. (countable, archaic, later in India) Short for telephone call (“a connection established over a telephone network; a conversation held by the parties on this connection”).
2. Now chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: a simple communication device which converts sounds (usually speech) into mechanical vibrations along a string, wire, etc.
3. A type of foghorn used for sending signals in the form of loud tones or musical notes, especially one invented in the 19th century by John Taylor, a captain in the British Royal Navy.
4. A system of communication using musical notes, also known as Solresol, invented in 1828 by the French composer Jean-François Sudre (1787–1862).
5. (countable, telephony) 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.
6. A communication device consisting of two aligned gutta-percha speaking tubes connected to parabolic reflectors which allows speech spoken into one tube to be sent through the air to the other one, invented in the 19th century by the British engineer Francis Whishaw (1804–1856); also, a speaking tube of such a device.
7. (uncountable, Canada, US, games) 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”).

Example Sentences

string telephone tin can telephone

The days are behind us (I recall) when children played with makeshift telephones made from jam tins connected by string; […]

In the terminology associated with this phenomenon, Jach Pursel is known as a "channel"—a vehicle through which "entities" from other planes of existence choose to address human beings. In a more familiar metaphor, Jach is the telephone through which Lazaris places his long distance calls: very long distance calls.

It is not easy to say from these passages (which are all we could find on the subject) what plan [Edward] Davy had in contemplation. In the first quotation he speaks of bells, for which we may read a powerful trumpet at one end, and a concave reflector to focus the sound at the other end; or some arrangement like the compressed-air telephone, proposed by Captain Taylor, R.N., in 1844; […]

Word Forms

• telephones
• telephoning
• telephoned

Synonyms for telephone

Depending on context, synonyms include call, call up, dial up, phone, ring, blower.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include phone, call, telephony, call up, ring, landline.

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