Sekirov Dictionary

telephone

UK /ˈtɛlɪfəʊn/US /ˈtɛləˌfoʊn/

noun 8
verb 5
forms 3
phrases 1

noun8

a device with number buttons that changes a voice into electric signals, carries them far, and back into sound, so that two people far apart can talk to each other
•
Now chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: a simple communication device which converts sounds (usually speech) into mechanical vibrations along a string, wire, etc.
- tin can telephone
•
(US, Canada) 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”).
- And since the spring of 1995, no game of telephone has ended without some Simpsons-loving smart-ass dropping "purple monkey dishwasher" into the chain. — 2013
(figurative) A means of communicating information from one person to another or others.
(no longer used, historical) 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.
(no longer used) Short for telephone call (“a connection established over a telephone network; a conversation held by the parties on this connection”).
(no longer used, historical) 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.
(no longer used, historical) A system of communication using musical notes, also known as Solresol, invented in 1828 by the French composer Jean-François Sudre (1787–1862).

verb5

To (attempt to) contact (someone) using a telephone.
•
To (attempt to) contact someone using a telephone; to make a telephone call.
- I came down like a wolf on the fold, didn't I? Why didn't I telephone? Strategy, my dear boy, strategy. This is a surprise attack, and I'd no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. — 1913
•
To convey (information, a message, news, etc.) using a telephone.
- David telephoned his apologies to his mother. On the way we had had our first puncture, and had taken some time to change the wheel, as we were unable to find the jack. — 1926
(no longer used) To provide (a place) with a telephone system.
•
(no longer used) To transmit (sounds) over a distance.
- Do you hear the chemical accents of the sun? / Do you telephone the roar of the waters over the earth? — 1923

forms

telephoned · telephoning · telephones

Phrases with telephone

telephone tag
A situation in which a person unsuccessfully attempts to contact another person by telephone and leaves a message instead, and in which the second person then unsuccessfully attempts to return the initial call and leaves a message for the first person, and so on as if the two are playing a game of tag in which the most recent person to have been left with a message is now designated as "it" (i.e. as the player now obliged to chase the other and to attempt anew to make contact).

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