Definition of Telephone

1. Verb. Get or try to get into communication (with someone) by telephone. "They telephone "; "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning"

Exact synonyms: Call, Call Up, Phone, Ring
Category relationships: Telephony
Specialized synonyms: Cell Phone, Call In
Entails: Dial
Generic synonyms: Telecommunicate
Related verbs: Call
Derivative terms: Call, Caller, Phone, Phoner, Ring, Telephoner

2. Noun. Electronic equipment that converts sound into electrical signals that can be transmitted over distances and then converts received signals back into sounds. "I talked to him on the telephone"

3. Noun. Transmitting speech at a distance.

Definition of Telephone

1. n. An instrument for reproducing sounds, especially articulate speech, at a distance.

2. v. t. To convey or announce by telephone.

Definition of Telephone

1. Noun. An electronic device used for two-way talking with other people (often shortened to phone). ¹

2. Verb. To contact someone by dialing his or her telephone number; to make someone's telephone ring using one's own telephone. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Telephone

1. [v -PHONED, -PHONING, -PHONES]

Medical Definition of Telephone

1. An instrument for reproducing sounds, especially articulate speech, at a distance. The ordinary telephone consists essentially of a device by which currents of electricity, produced by sounds through the agency of certain mechanical devices and exactly corresponding in duration and intensity to the vibrations of the air which attend them, are transmitted to a distant station, and there, acting on suitable mechanism, reproduce similar sounds by repeating the vibrations. The necessary variations in the electrical currents are usually produced by means of a microphone attached to a thin diaphragm upon which the voice acts, and are intensified by means of an induction coil. In the magnetic telephone, or magneto-telephone, the diaphragm is of soft iron placed close to the pole of a magnet upon which is wound a coil of fine wire, and its vibrations produce corresponding vibrable currents in the wire by induction. The mechanical, or string, telephone is a device in which the voice or sound causes vibrations in a thin diaphragm, which are directly transmitted along a wire or string connecting it to a similar diaphragm at the remote station, thus reproducing the sound. It does not employ electricity. Origin: Gr. Far off + sound. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Telephone

telepathises
telepathising
telepathist
telepathists
telepathize
telepathized
telepathizes
telepathizing
telepathology
telepaths
telepathy
telepatient
telepatients
telephonable
telephone (current term)
telephone-jack
telephone answering machine
telephone bell
telephone bill
telephone book
telephone booth
telephone booths
telephone box
telephone call
telephone calls
telephone card
telephone cards
telephone circuit
telephone company

Literary usage of Telephone

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1920)
"Chief Engineer, American telephone and Telegraph Company. ... See telephone SYSTEMS, INDEPENDENT. Under this designation are placed all those telephones not ..."

2. Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature by H.W. Wilson Company (1916)
"¡1 plan Smithson Rept 1915:445-67 Telepathy 406-21 О '16 telephone More hypnotism and telepathy. Unpop R 6: Combination telephone directory and antiseptic ..."

3. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1920)
"See telephone SYSTEMS, INDEPENDENT. Under this designation are placed all ... telephone SYSTEMS, Independent The original Bell patents expired in 1893 and ..."

4. The Truth about the Trusts: A Description and Analysis of the American Trust by John Moody (1904)
"Empire State telephone & Telegraph Company operates in central New York, ... Hudson River telephone Company operates in the counties of New York State ..."

5. Haydn's Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information Relating to All Ages by Joseph Haydn, Benjamin Vincent (1906)
"telephone. This telephone exhibited by Mr. WH Preece before the ... The attorney-general applies fur injunction api in st the telephone company uil-1 tlic ..."

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