tel

Noun

telephone number (plural telephone numbers)

1. The sequence of digits used to identify a particular destination telephone in a network.
   • Well, that story satisfied old O’Herrin’s curiosity. But he wanted to know the fairy’s telephone number, and when Zobedee fetched her fairylets in by burning a lot of hair, while the grand vizier and the boss eunuch held their noses, he asked her to change the spaniels back into women.1902, J[ames] W[infield] Scott, “The Porter and the Ladies of Bagdad”, in Jack Hardin’s Rendering of the Arabian Nights: Being a New Translation in Up-to-Date English […], Boston, Mass.: Herbert B....

   Synonyms:

   number, phone number, digits

2. (figuratively, humorous, in plural) A large number.
   • How much is that Rolls Royce? We are talking telephone numbers.

   Synonyms:

   phone number

Noun

telegraph (plural telegraphs)

1. (uncommon) Synonym of telegraphy, any process for transmitting arbitrarily long messages over a long distance using a symbolic code.
   • This strict sense of telegraph developed from French usage for Napoleon's overland semaphore network but rather arbitrarily excludes similar Chinese and other signalling networks.

   Synonyms:

   telegraphy, any process for transmitting arbitrarily long messages over a long distance using a symbolic code

2. (historical) The electrical device gradually developed in the early 19th century to transmit messages (telegrams) using Morse code; the entire system used to transmit its messages including overhead lines and transoceanic cables.
   • The first message transmitted by telegraph in the United States was WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT.
3. A visible or audible cue that indicates to an opponent the action that a character is about to take.

See all 5 meanings of telegraph