telephone

UK /ˈtɛl.ɪˌfəʊn/ US /ˈtɛɫ.əˌfoʊn/
noun 4verb 2

Definitions

noun

1

A telecommunication device (originally mechanical, and now electronic) used for two-way talking with another person (now often shortened to phone).

2

The receiver of such a device.

3

The game of Chinese whispers.

And since the spring of 1995, no game of telephone has ended without some Simpsons-loving smart-ass dropping “purple monkey dishwasher” into the chain.

4

Chinese whispers; a situation in which an initial message has been distorted and misunderstood by being passed from person to person.

In other words, Jones' career and life may have been derailed because a game of telephone went bad.

verb

1

To (attempt to) contact someone using a telephone.

“I came down like a wolf on the fold, didn’t I ? Why didn’t I telephone ? Strategy, my dear boy, strategy. This is a surprise attack, and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. …”

Having completed their task, Fireman Page telephoned from a lineside box to the next signal cabin, briefly reported the incident and said that, as no high explosive had dropped and the track was safe, they proposed proceeding "at caution".

2

To convey (a message) via telephone.

He telephoned what he knew to his chief[.]

David telephoned his apologies to his mother.

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