switch hook

switch hook

Also called a "hook switch," it is the control mechanism that answers and hangs up a call on a telephone. When you place the handset in the telephone cradle, it depresses the switch hook's button and hangs up (puts the phone "on hook"). See off-hook and flash button.

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switch hook [′swich ‚hu̇k]

(electricity)

A switch on a telephone set that operates when the receiver is placed on the hook or removed from it.