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telegraph definition

tele·graph (tel′ə graf′)

noun

  1. Obsolete any signaling apparatus
  2. an apparatus or system that converts a coded message into electric impulses and sends it to a distant receiver: originally, Morse code signals were sent using a key that opened and closed the circuit to activate an electromagnetic sounder, but now teletypewriters, computers, radio and microwave signals, satellites, and lasers are used

Etymology: Fr télégraphe: see tele- & -graph: orig. used of a semaphore

transitive verb

  1. to send (a message) by telegraph
  2. to send a telegram to
  3. Informal to signal (an intended action, decision, etc.) unintentionally to another, as by a gesture or look

intransitive verb

to send a telegram

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:

telecom telegraph definition - telecom

telegraph Synonyms

telegraph

n.

Morse telegraph, electric telegraph, wireless, radio telegraph, wireless telegraph, transmitter; see also communications, radio 2.


telegraph

v.

wire, send a wire, send a cable, send a radiogram, communicate by telegram, flash*, wire*, file*; see also communicate 2.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

telegraph Usage Examples

Object

  • pole: Across the entrance is a gate made of sleepers and telegraph poles to stop the debris.

Converse of object

  • invent: In order to continue searching for the term who invented the telegraph, visiting Connected Earth's website is likely to help you.

Adjective modifier

  • electric: The case with the ordinary electric telegraph is exactly the same.

Modifies a noun

  • pole: Just to the north of point C a telegraph pole is marked on the plan a little to the west of the boundary line.

Noun used with modifier

  • roadside: Also seen at several inland locations, perched on roadside telegraph wires.

Preposition: in

  • advance: All the plot turns, and indeed most of the jokes, are telegraphed long in advance.
telegraph usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

telegraph quotes

I feel pretty glum and devote myself to reviewing. There is Joyce's Finnegans Wake. I try very hard indeed to understand that book but fail completely. It is almost impossible to decipher, and when one or two lines of understanding emerge like telegraph poles above a flood, theyareat once countered byother polesgoing in the opposite direction.

-Nicolson, Sir Harold

  The press, the machine, the railway, the telegraph are premises whose thousand-year conclusion no one has yet dared to draw.

-Nietzsche, FriedrichWilhelm

telegraph quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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MLA Style

"telegraph." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/telegraph>

APA Style

telegraph. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 5th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/telegraph

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