1. Word finder
  2. Word definitions
  3. telephone

Find the word definition

What is "telephone"

Crossword clues for telephone

telephone
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
telephone
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a phone/telephone call
▪ I had a phone call from Barbara in Australia.
a telephone cable
▪ Telephone cables were damaged in the storm.
a telephone interview
▪ The first stage is a telephone interview.
a telephone/phone message (=a message that someone has written down for you from a phone call)
▪ There was a telephone message for her to call Harbury.
car/television/telephone etc rental
▪ The price includes accommodation and car rental.
daytime telephone number (=the number of the telephone you use during the day)
▪ Can I take your daytime telephone number ?
have/get/receive a telephone call
▪ I had a telephone call from George this morning.
make...telephone call
▪ Can I make a quick telephone call?
telephone banking
telephone book
telephone booth
telephone box
telephone call
▪ There’s a telephone call for you, Mr Baron.
telephone directory
telephone exchange
telephone network
▪ Hungary’s telephone network
telephone number
▪ What’s your telephone number?
telephone pole
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
cellular
▪ His cellular telephone rings in the Bull's car.
▪ That year Mr Watkins steered Mrs Clinton into a cellular telephone franchise.
▪ Syndicated columnist Robert Novak chatted loudly with an editor on his cellular telephone.
▪ Motorola Inc., a bellwether maker of semiconductors and cellular telephones, dropped 1 to 49 1 / 8.
▪ The tape was made by people who intercepted a cellular telephone transmission with a police scanner.
▪ As he roared by, the man never saw me or stopped blabbing into his cellular telephone.
mobile
▪ Sao Paulo boasts more mobile telephones than Paris.
▪ Even the mobile telephone has become a weapon in the propaganda war.
▪ It competes with three other mobile telephone companies.
▪ It said he had spoken with her by mobile telephone several times that night.
▪ As a result, prior to the cellular authorization, only some fifty-four channels were allocated for mobile telephone service nationwide.
▪ He used a scanner to listen, at random, to mobile telephone conversations.
▪ The construction company Bouygues won in late 1994 the license to operate a third mobile telephone network in the country.
public
▪ Excellent shower block; launderette; fully stocked shop; public telephone and childrens play area.
▪ She found it in her pocket, and hurried to the nearest public telephone.
▪ People had no business using public telephones at 2.15 in the morning.
▪ Particularly his own private, public telephone, a telephone with which Peter felt a special bond.
▪ Public Telephone Public telephones are available just inside the main entrance hall of the Manor House and in the cafeteria.
▪ Hitch watched the tail lights of the Lancia disappear and headed for the public telephones nearby.
▪ Now those who depend on dial-up lines from public telephone systems can enjoy the benefits of integration as well.
▪ Carry some loose change to make emergency public telephone calls.
■ NOUN
bill
▪ The fax is transmitted at a much faster rate thus saving on telephone bills.
▪ Callers pay through their telephone bill or credit card.
▪ Another service allows firms with offices in different countries to have centralised telephone bills.
▪ Also current telephone bill addressed to her, One-eighty-nine Commonwealth Avenue.
▪ Suppose a sky-high gas, electricity or telephone bill sends your blood pressure soaring.
▪ One percent of a telephone bill and 5 percent of a Visa or Mastercard tab go into the contribution kitty.
▪ As one woman who had a disabled unemployed husband commented: The telephone bill came, it was only £24.
▪ I was going to Boulevard Saint-Michel to pay my telephone bill, which was long overdue.
book
▪ Their address should be available from the hospital or you can find it in the telephone book.
▪ Also features manual dialler so you can call friends who are not in your telephone book.
▪ A lime-green book cover, a plastic soda bottle, newspapers, a telephone book, a blue Frisbee, something pink.
▪ He might as well have picked a family at random out of the telephone book and stayed with them.
▪ During the week I found work in town painting houses, laying carpets and delivering telephone books.
▪ His private address is listed in the telephone book.
▪ I reached in my top drawer for the telephone book and hauled it out.
booth
▪ She came back from the telephone booth quickly, looking distracted.
▪ It was Bethany in a telephone booth.
▪ Can't even dodge into a telephone booth and warn Gilman - if I could reach him.
▪ He walked back toward the telephone booth through knots of drinking blacks.
▪ Most of the bombs were mailed to bank branches or bank employees, but some were placed in telephone booths.
▪ Message-sending and letter-writing went on, and they were always running up to the telephone booths at the station.
▪ You know, I just called you from a telephone booth.
box
▪ The first telephone boxes were designed by Sir Giles Scott in 1935, they were made of cast iron.
▪ Cash stolen: Thieves who broke into Bishop Auckland bowling pavilion stole money from a telephone box.
▪ And that phone call ... Part of it was overheard by one of the village ladies waiting just outside the telephone box.
▪ Look out for the old red telephone box which stands nearby.
▪ One broker was found to be operating from a telephone box at Heathrow airport.
▪ On the way back, she made me wait on the bench outside the telephone box.
▪ Until recently, 1p coins topped the league when it came to money lost in or near telephone boxes.
▪ They cluster around telephone boxes and the bus station, plotting to head north.
call
▪ Letters, and telephone calls followed.
▪ She and Laura continued to keep up their friendship through frequent telephone calls and meeting for lunch at least once a month.
▪ Soothed by that solitary telephone call, Diana's ruffled pride was momentarily mollified when she returned to Coleherne Court.
▪ Shapiro did not return telephone calls seeking comment last week.
▪ These telephone calls provoke long and furious rows between Mr Smith and his second wife.
▪ Frequent visits, long telephone calls and letters, all keep the links strong.
▪ I received a telephone call just before Question Time telling me that that enterprise will have to close.
▪ A quick telephone call to Membray and a further last minute briefing confirmed that all was well at the other end.
company
▪ In one case, a law passed last year required telephone companies to design their equipment to allow for wiretaps.
▪ Larger cities would see regulations lifted by at least 1999, or sooner if the telephone companies start providing cable television.
▪ Mitnick is accused of having broken into a telephone company computer.
▪ The state-run telephone company now says it wants to run its own cellular network.
▪ To bring consumers up to speed, telephone companies are revving up education campaigns.
▪ The state-run telephone companies have invested too little for years.
▪ He said this could foil the widely held expectation that cable and telephone companies will become chief competitors.
conversation
▪ Furious telephone conversations between the two ensued.
▪ He said Nathanson turned him down in a July 1991 telephone conversation and said she would be interested in representing his wife.
▪ My first question is a result of a telephone conversation with Graham Bowie, chief executive of Lothian region.
▪ Our telephone conversations cement our client relationships. 6.
▪ Harvard responded by installing tapes to record all telephone conversations.
▪ The telephone conversation between Dad and my grandparents must have been stilted.
▪ Finish by recapping exactly what it is you are going to do as a result of the telephone conversation.
▪ His hotel rooms were bugged, as were his telephone conversations.
directory
▪ Very thoughtfully, she turned to the telephone directory and looked up the name.
▪ It was as if some one had suddenly placed several telephone directories on my chest.
▪ Smurfit Printing secured the lucrative telephone directory printing contract.
▪ It also publishes seven community telephone directories and two magazines, concentrated in Howard and Carroll counties.
▪ There are actually large telephone directory style books which contain details of standard bar codes.
▪ The route is promoted in publications ranging from telephone directories to restaurant placemats, but the information is often confusing and inaccurate.
▪ Diana and Carolyn would regularly while away a quiet evening ringing people with silly names who appeared in the telephone directory.
▪ Illiterates can not look up numbers in a telephone directory.
exchange
▪ It is as vital as the plastic insulation in a telephone exchange.
▪ The train has its own telephone exchange and electricity generating car, plus office accommodations and restaurant cars for the royal entourage.
▪ The telephone exchange was all plugs and manual dialling-not a computer in sight.
▪ Kodachrome was developed by two musicians and the original automatic telephone exchange by an undertaker.
interview
▪ Could she do a telephone interview?
▪ Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said in a recent telephone interview.
▪ Then, Ali surfaced in a front-page telephone interview in the Washington Post.
▪ The survey included telephone interviews with 3,000 people randomly selected across the country between July and November last year.
line
▪ Atari wants to link home computers to school computers via telephone lines.
▪ A silence gathered on the telephone line.
▪ The mailbag and telephone line brought many criticisms.
▪ Because of the limited bandwidth available over existing telephone lines, the telcos must increase their last mile capacity.
▪ The latest news down the telephone line is that Madonna has just bought one.
▪ The office now has two dedicated telephone lines as well as connection to the main switchboard.
▪ But the cost of telephone lines means larger systems almost always charge for access.
lines
▪ Connection is by ordinary telephone lines via moderns.
▪ It will travel via cable lines and telephone lines, through the air, and directly to and from satellites.
▪ The problem may turn out to be much bigger than crossed telephone lines in the ether.
▪ We furnished a little office and put in new telephone lines.
▪ The office now has two dedicated telephone lines as well as connection to the main switchboard.
▪ The miles and miles of cables and telephone lines.
▪ Standard serial communication over telephone lines is sufficient for remote capabilities.
▪ Soon universal time signals will be transmitted through all power and telephone lines.
message
▪ They remain friends, though she is quick to be petulant over telephone messages left unanswered and favours left undone.
▪ Attorneys for Sheik Sultan did not return telephone messages left at their offices on Wednesday.
▪ Army bomb disposal experts scoured the city for 5 hours, after receiving a coded telephone message.
▪ An estimated 1, 000 to 2, 000 households were alerted by a computerized telephone message.
▪ Desks were littered with yards of wire stories, celebrity bulletins, picture handouts, telephone messages, and empty coffee cups.
▪ Peter Gass, an attorney for Lundwall, did not return telephone messages seeking comment.
▪ The strawberry jam she'd made hadn't set, she couldn't even take a telephone message.
▪ The telephone messages had already prepared him for some of the problems.
network
▪ Upgrading the telephone networks to do the same might cost even more.
▪ The maker of switching products used in telephone networks said its fourth-quarter earnings will fall below estimates.
▪ The telephone network around Washington and Baltimore collapses.
▪ When the data hits local and long-distance telephone networks, the speed drops quickly to 2 megabytes.
▪ Although the industry is rapidly introducing advanced digital communication technologies, the telephone network continues to be dependent on analog transmission.
▪ This model is unlike the telephone networks, where payment settlement is a critical part.
▪ The construction company Bouygues won in late 1994 the license to operate a third mobile telephone network in the country.
number
▪ They contain telephone numbers for classified computer systems.
▪ In his letter to the student the dean included his home telephone number.
▪ His name was the first to come to her mind and his telephone number was in the directory.
▪ People who make their living thinking about telephone numbers identify the 10 digits of every number with a letter.
▪ A typewritten list of male names and telephone numbers, twenty-five in all, including those of Matteo and Saunders.
▪ Households were selected by a method that gave all telephone numbers, listed and unlisted, an equal chance of being included.
▪ Visa has recently closed a loophole that let AT&T put a telephone number on its Universal cards.
▪ And their telephone numbers are listed in the phone book.
pole
▪ They were telephone poles that had fallen from a lorry, blocking both westbound lanes of the motorway and smashing a car.
▪ Scattered farmhouses, sentry telephone poles, and budding green fields flanked them on each side.
▪ Despite saturating the area with herbicide, he found rogue oilseed rape plants thriving in ditches and around telephone poles.
▪ He sat against the wall sketching on a pad with colored pencils, a picture of telephone poles.
▪ Seth flew forty miles an hour face first into the piling with such force that he uprooted the eight telephone poles.
▪ He showed me how to draw a telephone pole.
▪ No one, he kept arguing, builds a new town with telephone poles.
▪ A single antelope stood in the line of shadow of a telephone pole.
service
▪ Members based outside of London used the telephone service or wrote to the library for answers to 1,465 queries about banking practice.
▪ Although global access is still a problem in some parts of the world, basic telephone service is getting better and cheaper.
▪ The Weather Communications Aviation Service starts at just £100 per year for a personal telephone service.
▪ They have been without electricity, water or telephone service since looters stole pipes from the ground and wire from the poles.
▪ The Government is keen to increase competition in broadcasting and mobile telephone services.
▪ The rooms also come with two special telephone services.
▪ Telmex loses its monopoly over long-distance telephone service on Jan. 1.
▪ We welcome expansion of telephone services as improving the general well-being but accept curtailment of postal services as signifying necessary economy.
system
▪ Also the train had a telephone system fitted, and telegraph and telephone instruments were carried.
▪ Others support the current regulated telephone system model.
▪ In Kursk guberniia the telephone system was a subject for derision.
▪ Supreme Court officials acknowledge that their own telephone system was the culprit for the leak.
▪ Staff working in the office, on the shop floor and in the warehouse may well communicate via the internal telephone system.
▪ One man dug using full beam while another stood by the internal telephone system with a dimmed light.
■ VERB
answer
▪ I shall be killed, Paul Schramm thought, and all because Maria Grandinetti couldn't answer the telephone.
▪ Be pleasant to everyone, especially secretaries who answer the telephone.
▪ When answering the telephone, don't give your number.
▪ But the phone company patched through a line Friday night, and du Pont answered the telephone when authorities called.
▪ Her voice was breathless with bonhomie when she answered the telephone, with an undertone of throatiness that David found attractive.
▪ It was her job to answer the telephone, prepare coffee for her boss's visitors, and run errands.
▪ Here are some of them: Always answer the telephone promptly.
▪ She answered the telephone, thanked the Martellis for thanking her for the party.
receive
▪ Some time ago I received a frantic telephone call from Carol, who had undergone successful hypnotic treatment about two years earlier.
▪ The managers began to receive telephone calls from people in other parts of the company blaming them for their subordinates' behavior.
▪ The Northern has received telephone calls and letters from people who have contributed and want to know what is happening.
▪ Within hours of opening on Wednesday, the hotline had received 60 telephone calls, officials said.
▪ However, less than a month later, I received a telephone call from the home.
▪ Army bomb disposal experts scoured the city for 5 hours, after receiving a coded telephone message.
▪ I received a telephone call just before Question Time telling me that that enterprise will have to close.
▪ Some months later I received an emotional telephone call from my happy former patient.
ring
▪ I am not well enough to ring a telephone number.
▪ The ringing of the telephone came as a distinct irritation.
▪ I must have fallen asleep, for the next thing I knew I was woken by the ringing of the telephone.
▪ I tried to ring the emergency telephone lines all day yesterday from a public phone box, but could never get through.
use
▪ Members based outside of London used the telephone service or wrote to the library for answers to 1,465 queries about banking practice.
▪ The maker of switching products used in telephone networks said its fourth-quarter earnings will fall below estimates.
▪ It was just beyond eleven when they finished, and Rory was well conscious of his need to use the telephone.
▪ Danielle Heitner Did dinosaurs know how to use the telephone?
▪ The Hotel Manager's room status facility allows room status to be updated by using the telephone keypad as an input terminal.
▪ He was glad to have a chance to use the telephone.
▪ The project now ensures young people can use telephone boxes outside the home as well as inside, according to the deputy head Alan Clark.
▪ A guy came out and let my grandfather use the telephone.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
rail/road/telephone etc link
▪ Excellent road and rail links make access easy from all parts of the country.
▪ However, outlying villages had been attacked and the city's rail link with Phnom Penh was frequently severed.
▪ In many cases they have the public on their side as the recent furore over the rail links with London has demonstrated.
▪ Newby is a quiet village between the busy A65 and the old road linking Ingleton and Clapham with road access to both.
▪ The houses will be for people who have to move out of Bentham Drive to make way for a new rail link.
▪ Through the World's Edge Mountains great fortified underground roads linked their underground cities.
▪ When it was first launched in 1982 a Minitel terminal consisted of a small monitor with a keyboard and a telephone link.
▪ Will he take note of the campaign to sink the link, as the channel tunnel rail link passes Gravesend and Northfleet?
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a telephone conversation
▪ a cordless telephone
▪ Fran hung up the telephone and looked out the window.
▪ Is that my telephone ringing?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And he's fond of Jean-Claude, he's always on the telephone ....
▪ He said the campaign had identified Gramm supporters and worked the telephones to get them to the polls.
▪ Members based outside of London used the telephone service or wrote to the library for answers to 1,465 queries about banking practice.
▪ Others support the current regulated telephone system model.
▪ Recreation areas have telephones and pool tables.
▪ The naval attaché's telephone in London was also intercepted.
▪ White-bead chains that held dosimeters, radiation-sensing devices resembling large telephone pagers, were looped around their necks.
II.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
again
▪ The caller had sounded a little bewildered, but had said that he was glad to hear it and would telephone again sometime.
▪ Several Fleet Street representatives telephoned again Wednesday, the day before Laud was to appear in the local justice court.
▪ I telephoned again early next morning before he would have gone to work, but again there was no reply.
▪ A woman who spoke to detectives last year could have a vital clue, but be too terrified to telephone again.
▪ Rain took a couple of steps before thinking of asking him to telephone again.
▪ We telephoned again two hours later.
▪ Maybe, then, it was stubborn pride that was making her stay waiting for Moira Russell to telephone again.
■ NOUN
friend
▪ She thought she would be able to telephone friends, whom she now realized were very keen to help her.
▪ I telephoned an old friend of mine from high school and we went out to lunch.
▪ Somebody, somewhere, has probably just telephoned an old friend by mistake.
home
▪ That evening I telephoned his home and could get no reply.
▪ I shall telephone him at home before he leaves for work in the morning.
▪ For a brief while she toyed with the idea of telephoning Mr Gajdusek's home to check if he was there.
▪ We telephoned Rodrigo Paiva at home.
▪ Police take violators to a special detention center and telephone their homes.
police
▪ What would happen if he telephoned the police now?
▪ The court was told that Gilchrist was arrested at a house in Pershore after he himself had telephoned the police.
▪ Mr Gibson had telephoned the police.
▪ Anyone wishing to contact the community team can do so by telephoning Rhyl police and asking for St Asaph police station.
▪ Rain telephoned the police and spoke to an officer who was unconcerned whether she cleared up or not.
wife
▪ He had tried to telephone his wife once, but without success: the line was engaged.
▪ About three o'clock, he telephoned his wife.
▪ Farr-Jones went so far as to telephone his wife Angela in Sydney saying she should expect him home within days.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ About five o'clock, a woman telephoned Bernstein.
▪ At 4:45 a.m., neighbors telephoned police to report a man firing shots.
▪ For details of your nearest tourist office telephone 4127.
▪ Mr Dodd telephoned this morning.
▪ Write or telephone for more information.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Advertisements are placed in the press, and potential purchasers are invited to telephone or fill in a coupon for further details.
▪ He had tried to telephone his wife once, but without success: the line was engaged.
▪ He wanted me to telephone you at once and ask you to come to Danzig.
▪ He would have to telephone around and see if anyone else had any titbits to add to the mystery.
▪ I telephoned Sophie and arranged to have dinner with her the following night.
▪ Police take violators to a special detention center and telephone their homes.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Telephone

Telephone \Tel"e*phone\, n. [Gr. ? far off + ? sound.] (Physics) An instrument for reproducing sounds, especially articulate speech, at a distance.

Note: 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.

Telephone

Telephone \Tel"e*phone\, v. t. To convey or announce by telephone.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
telephone

1878, from telephone (n.). Related: Telephoned; telephoning.

telephone

1835, "system for conveying words over distance by musical notes" (devised in 1828 by French composer Jean-François Sudré (1787-1862); each tone played over several octaves represented a letter of the alphabet), from French téléphone (c.1830), from télé- "far" (see tele-) + phone "sound" (see fame (n.)). Sudré's system never proved practical. Also used of other apparatus early 19c., including "instrument similar to a foghorn for signaling from ship to ship" (1844). The electrical communication tool was first described in modern form by Philip Reis (1861); developed by Scottish-born inventor Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), and so called by him from 1876.

Wiktionary
telephone

n. 1 A telecommunication device (originally mechanical, and now electronic) used for two-way talking with another person (often shortened to phone). 2 (context US English) Chinese whispers. vb. To (attempt to) contact someone using the telephone.

Related phrases:
WordNet
telephone

v. get or try to get into communication (with someone) by telephone; "I tried to call you all night"; "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning" [syn: call, call up, phone, ring]

telephone

  1. n. 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" [syn: phone, telephone set]

  2. transmitting speech at a distance [syn: telephony]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Téléphone

Téléphone was a French rock band formed in 1976 by Jean-Louis Aubert (singer/guitarist), Louis Bertignac (guitarist/singer), Corine Marienneau (bass/singer) and Richard Kolinka (drums).

Their first, self-titled album, was released in 1977; by the end of the decade they were one of the biggest French rock bands around, opening shows for The Rolling Stones in Paris, Quebec, the United States and Japan. The band split in 1986 for personal reasons.

Among their best-known songs are "Hygiaphone", "Métro c'est trop" ("Metro's Too Much"), "La bombe humaine" ("Human bomb"), "Argent trop cher" ("Money Too Expensive"), "Ça c'est vraiment toi" ("That Is So You"), "Cendrillon" ("Cinderella"), "New York avec toi" ("New York With You") and "Un autre Monde" ("Another World").

Telephone (song)

"Telephone" is a song recorded by American singer Lady Gaga featuring Beyoncé, for Gaga's third EP, The Fame Monster (2009). The song was written by Gaga, Rodney Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels, Lazonate Franklin and Beyoncé. Inspired by her fear of suffocation, Gaga explained that the lyrics preferring relaxing on the dance floor to answering her lover's phone call are a metaphor, the phone calling her representing the fear of not having worked hard enough to succeed. Originally, Gaga wrote the song for Britney Spears, who recorded a demo. Musically, "Telephone" consists of an expanded bridge, verse-rap and a sampled voice of an operator announcing that the phone line is unreachable. Beyoncé appears in the middle of the song, singing the verses in a rapid-fire way, accompanied by double beats.

The song received positive reviews from critics who frequently noted "Telephone" as a stand-out track from The Fame Monster. It was Grammy-nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2011. "Telephone" charted in a number of countries due to digital sales following the album's release, namely in the United States, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and Hungary. The song was particularly successful in Europe where it reached the top of the charts in Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the single sold 7.4 million digital copies worldwide in 2010, making it one of Gaga's best-selling singles.

The accompanying music video is a continuation of the video for her 2009 song, " Paparazzi", and is also shot as a short film. After Gaga gets bailed out of prison by Beyoncé, they go to a diner and poison the guests having breakfast. After the homicide they escape and end up in a high-speed police chase. The video referenced Quentin Tarantino and his films Pulp Fiction (1994) and Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003). The video received generally positive reviews was nominated for three awards at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, including one for Video of the Year. In January 2015 Billboard named it the best video of the first half of the decade. In memory of Alexander McQueen, Gaga performed an acoustic rendition of "Telephone" mixed with " Dance in the Dark" at the 2010 BRIT Awards. It was also added to the set list of The Monster Ball Tour in 2010, the Born This Way Ball in 2012 and ArtRave: The Artpop Ball in 2014.

Telephone

A telephone, or phone, is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into electronic signals suitable for transmission via cables or other transmission media over long distances, and replays such signals simultaneously in audible form to its user.

In 1876, Scottish emigrant Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be granted a United States patent for a device that produced clearly intelligible replication of the human voice. This instrument was further developed by many others. The telephone was the first device in history that enabled people to talk directly with each other across large distances. Telephones rapidly became indispensable to businesses, government, and households, and are today some of the most widely used small appliances.

The essential elements of a telephone are a microphone (transmitter) to speak into and an earphone (receiver) which reproduces the voice in a distant location. In addition, most telephones contain a ringer which produces a sound to announce an incoming telephone call, and a dial or keypad used to enter a telephone number when initiating a call to another telephone. Until approximately the 1970s most telephones used a rotary dial, which was superseded by the modern DTMF push-button dial, first introduced to the public by AT&T in 1963. The receiver and transmitter are usually built into a handset which is held up to the ear and mouth during conversation. The dial may be located either on the handset, or on a base unit to which the handset is connected. The transmitter converts the sound waves to electrical signals which are sent through the telephone network to the receiving phone. The receiving telephone converts the signals into audible sound in the receiver, or sometimes a loudspeaker. Telephones permit duplex communication, meaning they allow the people on both ends to talk simultaneously.

The first telephones were directly connected to each other from one customer's office or residence to another customer's location. Being impractical beyond just a few customers, these systems were quickly replaced by manually operated centrally located switchboards. This gave rise to landline telephone service in which each telephone is connected by a pair of dedicated wires to a local central office switching system, which developed into fully automated systems starting in the early 1900s. As greater mobility was desired for commerce and convenience, various radio systems were developed for transmission between mobile customer stations on ships and automobiles from the 1930s by the mid-1900s. Radio systems evolved into various cellular topologies until the first hand-held mobile phone was introduced for personal service starting in 1973 by Motorola. By the late 1970s several mobile telephone networks operated around the world. In 1983, the Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) was launched in the U.S. and in other countries soon after, and offered a standardized technology providing portability for users within a region far beyond the personal residence or office location. These analog cellular system evolved into digital networks with better security, greater capacity, better regional coverage, and lower cost. The public switched telephone network, with its hierarchical system of many switching centers, interconnects telephones around the world for communication with each other. With the standardized international numbering system, E.164, each telephone line has an identifying telephone number, that may be called from any authorized telephone on the network.

Although originally designed for simple voice communications, convergence has enabled most modern cell phones to have many additional capabilities. They may be able to record spoken messages, send and receive text messages, take and display photographs or video, play music or games, surf the Internet, do road navigation or immerse the user in virtual reality. Since 1999, the trend for mobile phones is smartphones that integrate all mobile communication and computing needs.

Telephone (disambiguation)

A telephone is a telecommunication device which is used to transmit and receive sound simultaneously.

Telephone may also refer to:

Telephone (application)

Telephone is a softphone for OS X. It uses Session Initiation Protocol for communication. Telephone is distributed as free software under GPL license.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "telephone".

World War broke down many of the inhibitions of violence and bloodshed that had been built up during the progressive years of the nineteenth century and an accumulating number of intelligent, restless unemployed men, in a new world of motor-cars, telephones, plate-glass shop windows, unbarred country houses and trustful social habits, found themselves faced with illegal opportunities far more attractive than any legal behaviour-system now afforded them.

A DOI is a permanent identifier, analogous to a telephone number for life, so tomorrow and years from now a user can locate the product and related resources wherever they may have been moved or archived to.

Anyway, this was more important than ballooning so Stafford picked up the telephone to cancel the appointment with Hunt.

Walking through a maze of stacked magazines and expired telephone books, she headed toward the mantel, where she saw a statue of Buddha resembling Baboo the Genie wearing balloony, CP Shades culottes.

If only I had known where to report, last night, that Heinrich Berg was walking through Mykonos-if only I had tried to get hold of Elias-if only I had telephoned Bannerman in Athens.

Ed Banning called, she always answered the telephone expecting the worst.

For one thing, I could see now that his blotter was covered with scribbles: doodles, telephone numbers, what looked like case numbers, cartoon dogs and cats in various poses, appointments, names and addresses, drawings of cars with flames shooting from the tailpipes.

It was, thought Brat, exactly the reaction of someone who has heard a telephone ring: the involuntary pause and then the resumed movement.

Jericho could picture a glimmering light somewhere below, that would tell Bronden if the telephone were in use.

Savage was there and caught Bill Browder eavesdropping on a telephone.

With astonishing speed, the third alternative is just disappearing, and I have heard that people with double-barrelled names are simply unable to get the concept across these days, because so few people on the other end of a telephone know what a hyphen is.

At the last moment Jonathan remembered an important telephone message and asked Mandrake to see the walking party off.

As she replaced the telephone receiver, Mandy felt grateful to be included in that circle.

Harold, Mandy, and John Reichman set up their reference material on the long oak table, Mitch whispered into a telephone on a credenza at one end of the room.

They drove slowly through McCook and Sharon Springs and Maranatha, looking for flyers on telephone poles and in store windows, calling out the towns and dates to B.