1 [C,U] a system for talking to sb else over long distances, using wires or radio; a machine used for this:
The telephone rang and Pat answered it. * You can reserve seats over the telephone. * I need to make a telephone call. * telephone lines / networks / services
2 [C] the part of the telephone that you hold in your hand and speak into
SYNRECEIVER, HANDSET
IDIOMS
be on the telephone
1 to be using the telephone:
He's on the telephone at the moment. * You're wanted (= sb wants to speak to you) on the telephone.
2 (BrE) to have a telephone in your home or place of work:
We're not on the telephone at the cottage.
verb (formal, especially BrE) to speak to sb by telephone
SYNPHONE, CALL [V] Please write or telephone for details. * He telephoned to say he'd be late. * [VN] You can telephone your order 24 hours a day. * I was about to telephone the police. -< PHONE
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
Where does this definition of telephone come from?
This entry for telephone is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is telephone a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, telephone is tagged as noun.
Does telephone appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — telephone appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
