telefone

Noun

telephone (countable and uncountable, plural telephones)

1. (countable) A telecommunication device which converts data or sounds (usually speech) into electrical signals which are then transmitted to enable two or more people to communicate with each other over a distance; now usually a device having a dial or keypad with numerals for entering a number, etc., to connect with a person, and means (such as a sound or vibration) for alerting one to an incoming call or transmission; also, the handset or receiver of such a device.
   • The telephones so constructed were placed in different rooms. […] Upon singing into the telephone, the tones of the voice were reproduced by the instrument in the distant room. When two persons sang simultaneously into the instrument, two notes were emitted simultaneously by the telephone in the...1876 May 10 (date delivered), A[lexander] Graham Bell, “Researches in Telephony”, in Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, volume IV (New Series; volume XII overall), Boston...

   Synonyms:

   Ameche, blower, dog and bone, horn, phone, pipe

2. (countable, figuratively) A means of communicating information from one person to another or others.
   • In the terminology associated with this phenomenon, Jach Pursel is known as a "channel"—a vehicle through which "entities" from other planes of existence choose to address human beings. In a more familiar metaphor, Jach is the telephone through which Lazaris places his long distance calls: very...1990, Earl Babbie, “Channels to Elsewhere”, in Thomas Robbins, Dick Anthony, editors, In Gods We Trust: New Patterns of Religious Pluralism in America, New Brunswick, N.J.; London: Transaction...
3. (historical) Now chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: a simple communication device which converts sounds (usually speech) into mechanical vibrations along a string, wire, etc.
   • string telephone tin can telephone
4. (archaic, historical) A type of foghorn used for sending signals in the form of loud tones or musical notes, especially one invented in the 19th century by John Taylor, a captain in the British Royal Navy.
   • It is not easy to say from these passages (which are all we could find on the subject) what plan [Edward] Davy had in contemplation. In the first quotation he speaks of bells, for which we may read a powerful trumpet at one end, and a concave reflector to focus the sound at the other end; or some...1899, J[ohn] J[oseph] Fahie, “First Period—The Possible”, in A History of Wireless Telegraphy 1838–1899: Including Some Bare-wire Proposals for Subaqueous Telegraphs, Edinburgh; London: William...
5. (archaic, historical) A communication device consisting of two aligned gutta-percha speaking tubes connected to parabolic reflectors which allows speech spoken into one tube to be sent through the air to the other one, invented in the 19th century by the British engineer Francis Whishaw (1804–1856); also, a speaking tube of such a device.
   • While on the subject of gutta-percha, a few words may very well be given to Mr. Whishaw's inventions: among these are speaking-tubes, to supersede bells in private houses or offices. So extraordinary are the conducting powers of this new product, that a whisper may can be conveyed to long...1849 June 30, “Gossip from London”, in William and Robert Chambers, editors, Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, volume XI, number 287 (New Series), Edinburgh: William and Robert Chambers; London...
6. (archaic, historical) A system of communication using musical notes, also known as Solresol, invented in 1828 by the French composer Jean-François Sudre (1787–1862).
   • We extract from the France Musicale a few curious particulars relative to the invention of a kind of marine telegraph, called the "Telephone," invented by an ingenious Frenchman, Monsieur Sudre, and by which orders may be transmitted at night, when other means of communication fail. […] A...1841 December, “[Miscellaneous.] Musical Telegraph.”, in The American Repertory of Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures, volume IV, number 5, New York, N.Y.: W. A. Cox, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 375

See all 12 meanings of telephone