telephone
/ˈtɛləˌfoʊn/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.41 in modern English
Meaning
noun
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.
Countable
noun
Short for telephone call (“a connection established over a telephone network; a conversation held by the parties on this connection”).
Archaic; Countable
noun
Now chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: a simple communication device which converts sounds (usually speech) into mechanical vibrations along a string, wire, etc.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
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.
Archaic; Countable; Uncountable
noun
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.
Archaic; Countable; Uncountable
noun
A system of communication using musical notes, also known as Solresol, invented in 1828 by the French composer Jean-François Sudre (1787–1862).
Archaic; Countable; Uncountable
noun
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”).
Canadian usage; American usage; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The telephones so constructed were placed in different rooms. […] Upon singing into the telephone, the tones of the voice were reproduced by the instrument in the distant room. When two persons sang simultaneously into the instrument, two notes were emitted simultaneously by the telephone in the other house. […] I placed the membrane of the telephone near my mouth, and uttered the sentence, "Do you understand what I say?" Presently an answer was returned through the instrument in my hand. Articular words proceeded from the clock-spring attached to the membrane, and I heard the sentence, "Yes; I understand you perfectly.""
- "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."
- "string telephone tin can telephone"
- "If a string of packthread be attached to the stem of a tuning fork, and the other end of the thread be wrapt round the little finger, 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, though two hundred yards distant, 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. The author states that some such instruments have been already perfected, and are about to be exhibited, but we have as yet heard nothing of them."
- "The days are behind us (I recall) when children played with makeshift telephones made from jam tins connected by string; […]"
- "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; […]"
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtɛləˌfoʊn/
- British English: /ˈtɛlɪfəʊn/