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# telephone

«telephone» in Mova's school dictionary: **a machine for talking to someone far away by sending…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (telephone, telephones; short: phone); verb (telephone, telephones, telephoned, telephoning — formal)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A telephone is a machine for talking to someone far away by sending sounds as electrical or radio signals. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/telephone/#m1)

2) To telephone someone means to call them on the phone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/telephone/#m2)

3) A telephone number is the number you dial to reach someone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/telephone/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

Everyday life and safety: children learn their parents' phone number and the emergency number — 911 in the USA and Canada, 999 or 112 in the UK and Ireland, 000 in Australia, 111 in New Zealand — and to call only in a real emergency, say their address and stay on the line. In science and history: Alexander Graham Bell is credited with the telephone (1870s); sound turns into electrical signals. «Telephone» is also a party game where a whisper changes as it passes along. Phrases: on the telephone, telephone number, mobile phone, answer the telephone, telephone box.

### examples

- Learn your mum's telephone number by heart. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/telephone/#x1)
- The telephone rang during dinner. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/telephone/#x2)
- In an emergency, telephone 999 for an ambulance. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/telephone/#x3)
- Alexander Graham Bell worked on early telephones. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/telephone/#x4)
- We made a string telephone with two paper cups. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/telephone/#x5)
- Grandma telephoned to say happy birthday. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/telephone/#x6)
- Old red telephone boxes are still found in Britain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/telephone/#x7)

### note

The short word «phone» is more common in speech. The verb «telephone» is formal; people usually say «call», «ring» (UK) or «phone». Safety: never give your address or password to an unknown caller; hang up and tell an adult.

### In the corpora

- [Grandma says AI is like the telephone: scary at first, then normal.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/25-future-fears-rules/0/)
- [Every big invention, such as the telephone, seemed strange or scary at first and later became normal.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/25-future-fears-rules/16/)
- [Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876, which means he was given the official right to it as his invention.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/100-communication-letters-to-internet/17/)
- [A telephone turns sound into a changing electric current and turns it back into sound at the other end.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/100-communication-letters-to-internet/18/)
- [Chinese whispers (also called telephone) is a game that shows how a message changes as it passes along a line.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/167-the-rumour-that-grows/15/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «telephone» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/telephone/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.