telephone

[′tel·ə‚fōn]

(communications)

A system of converting sound waves into variations in electric current that can be sent over wires and reconverted into sound waves at a distant point, used primarily for voice communication; it consists essentially of a telephone transmitter and receiver at each station, interconnecting wires or radio transmission systems, signaling devices, a central power supply, and switching facilities. Also known as telephone system.

(engineering acoustics)

telephone set

What does it mean when you dream about a telephone?

The telephone is a symbol of communication with multiple meanings. If the dreamer is not available, does not want to answer the ringing telephone, or hangs up it may indicate that communication from the unconscious is being ignored.

telephone

Meaning "distance" and "sound," a telephone is the end user terminal in a telephone or voice over IP (VoIP) network. Telephone typically refers to a desktop or wall-mounted unit, whereas portable phones are called just plain "phones" or "cordless phones," "cellphones" and "smartphones," the latter two also known as "mobile phones."

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell's words, "Mr. Watson. Come here! I want you!" ushered in the age of telephony. See telephony, POTS, PSTN, DECT, cellphone and smartphone.

A Century Ago

At the turn of the 20th century, people were "communicating over the wire" with instruments such as this Blake wall phone. (Image courtesy of Nortel Networks.)

Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.

Telephone

(dreams)

In our dreams the telephone could be a symbol with which we are expressing a desire to communicate with ourselves and with others. Our unconscious and/or intuition may be trying to give us messages that we have been unwilling to listen to. If you don’t want to answer the ring, ask yourself why.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Telephone

(1) The common name for the telephone set.

(2) In spoken Russian, the word (telefon) used for “telephone number.”

(3) Shortened form of the term “telephone communication.”

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

What had this dead man's ear to do with the invention of the telephone? Much.

"If you wish my daughter," said Hubbard, "you must abandon your foolish telephone." Bell's "School of Vocal Physiology," too, from which he had hoped so much, had come to an inglorious end.

Consequently, when Bell returned from Washington, he was compelled by his agreement to devote himself mainly to the musical telegraph, although his heart was now with the telephone. For exactly three months after his interview with Professor Henry, he continued to plod ahead, along both lines, until, on that memorable hot afternoon in June, 1875, the full TWANG of the clock-spring came over the wire, and the telephone was born.

The telephone was now in existence, but it was the youngest and feeblest thing in the nation.

For forty weeks--long exasperating weeks-- the telephone could do no more than gasp and make strange inarticulate noises.

It was not easy, of course, for the weak young telephone to make itself heard in that noisy workshop.

"Had I known more about electricity, and less about sound," he said, "I would never have invented the telephone." What he had done was so amazing, so foolhardy, that no trained electrician could have thought of it.

As though the very stars in their courses were working for this young wizard with the talking wire, the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia opened its doors exactly two months after the telephone had learned to talk.

Hubbard, after much trouble, had obtained a promise that they would spend a few minutes examining Bell's telephone. By this time it had been on exhibition for more than six weeks, without attracting the serious attention of anybody.

One took up a telephone receiver, looked at it blankly, and put it down again.

And so, with the tall, blond-bearded Dom Pedro in the centre, the assembled judges, and scientists--there were fully fifty in all-- entered with unusual zest into the proceedings of this first telephone exhibition.

So, one after another, this notable company of men listened to the voice of the first telephone, and the more they knew of science, the less they were inclined to believe their ears.

View in context