TELEGRAPH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does telegraph mean? 

• TELEGRAPH (noun)
  The noun TELEGRAPH has 1 sense:

1. apparatus used to communicate at a distance over a wire (usually in Morse code)

  Familiarity information: TELEGRAPH used as a noun is very rare.

• TELEGRAPH (verb)
  The verb TELEGRAPH has 1 sense:

1. send cables, wires, or telegrams

  Familiarity information: TELEGRAPH used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TELEGRAPH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Apparatus used to communicate at a distance over a wire (usually in Morse code)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

telegraph; telegraphy

Hypernyms ("telegraph" is a kind of...):

apparatus; setup (equipment designed to serve a specific function)

Derivation:

telegraph (send cables, wires, or telegrams)

telegrapher (someone who transmits messages by telegraph)

telegraphic (of or relating to or transmitted by telegraph)

• TELEGRAPH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they telegraph    ... he / she / it telegraphs   
Past simple: telegraphed   
Past participle: telegraphed   
-ing form: telegraphing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Send cables, wires, or telegrams

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

cable; telegraph; wire

Hypernyms (to "telegraph" is one way to...):

telecommunicate (communicate over long distances, as via the telephone or e-mail)

Domain category:

telegraphy (communicating at a distance by electric transmission over wire)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody something
Somebody ----s something to somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence examples:

They telegraph them the information
They telegraph the information to them

Derivation:

telegraph (apparatus used to communicate at a distance over a wire (usually in Morse code))

telegrapher; telegraphist (someone who transmits messages by telegraph)

 Context examples 

And the sleuth-hounds of the law, the paid fighting animals of society, with telephone, and telegraph, and special train, clung to his trail night and day.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I had to telegraph yesterday, or they would not have been here.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I telegraphed to your mother yesterday, and Brooke answered she'd come at once, and she'll be here tonight, and everything will be all right.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

On the Monday morning Holmes had telegraphed to the London police, and in the evening we found a reply waiting for us at our hotel.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That was why he telegraphed to me and I returned.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An impression like a fine bundle of telegraph wires ran down the centre of it.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Martin nodded, and called one of the loungers to him to take the message to the telegraph office.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Telegraph Hill, of course, is your port of entry.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But another Saturday came, and on that Saturday evening she was to be at Miss Mills's; and when Mr. Mills had gone to his whist-club (telegraphed to me in the street, by a bird-cage in the drawing-room middle window), I was to go there to tea.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

In the afternoon she asked for Arthur, and we telegraphed for him.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)