telephone

Etymology

First used by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 to refer to the modern instrument, but previous devices had been given this name, which was borrowed from French téléphone. Ultimately from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle, “afar”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛlɪfəʊn/, /ˈtɛləfəʊn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛləfoʊn/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

telephone (countable and uncountable, plural telephones)

1. A telecommunication device (originally mechanical, and now electronic) used for two-way talking with another person (often shortened to phone).
2. (Canada, US, uncountable) The game of Chinese whispers.
   • 2013 October 27, Erik Adams, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “The PTA Disbands””, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     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.

   • 2017 October 3, David Dobbs, “The Touch of Madness”, in Pacific Standard‎:

     In other words, Jones' career and life may have been derailed because a game of telephone went bad.

Verb

telephone (third-person singular simple present telephones, present participle telephoning, simple past and past participle telephoned)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To (attempt to) contact someone using the telephone.
   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎:

     “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. …”

Anagrams

• phenetole