off-hook

off-hook definition - telecom
A condition that exists when a telephone receiver or handset is lifted or removed from its cradle, thereby completing a circuit and placing the telephone in use. The term refers to the fact that early telephone handsets hung from a switch hook, a hook that activated a switch. See also on-hook.

Webster's New World Telecom Dictionary Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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