switchboard
a structural unit on which are mounted switches and instruments necessary to complete telephone circuits manually.
Also called lightboard. a panel of switches, dimmers, etc., for controlling the lighting on a stage or in an auditorium.
Origin of switchboard
1Words Nearby switchboard
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use switchboard in a sentence
The equipment filled much of a car’s trunk, and subscribers made calls by picking up the handset and speaking to a switchboard operator.
The First Mobile Phone Call Was 75 Years Ago—How Technologies Go From Breakthrough to Big Time | Daniel Bliss | July 22, 2021 | Singularity HubThese women seemed like decent working folk — clerks and switchboard operators — yet they were spending their evenings out alone with men, who would buy them drinks and dinners.
When Dating Could Get You Handcuffed … And Not in the Fun Way | Nick Fouriezos | March 25, 2021 | OzyHundreds of calls jammed the switchboard at the hospital where she works, many hinting at physical violence against her, and accusing her of working for Big Pharma.
The Vaccine Champions in France Defying Death Threats to Convert Anti-Vaxxers | Vivienne Walt | February 17, 2021 | TimeWithin a few years, Coy was employing four operators to connect two hundred subscribers across several switchboards, and his much-expanded list now appeared in alphabetical order.
From Encyclopedias to Telephone Books, How Alphabetization Took Over the Modern World | Judith Flanders | October 28, 2020 | TimeThese switchboards housed a series of jacks, one per subscriber.
From Encyclopedias to Telephone Books, How Alphabetization Took Over the Modern World | Judith Flanders | October 28, 2020 | Time
There's even some of those crazy vertical switchboard doodads.
Then Abdullah called for one of his private secretaries to hand over his name and an all-hours royal-switchboard telephone number.
There was a small thing which looked like the switchboard of a telegraph office.
Pharaoh's Broker | Ellsworth DouglassThe great window of the pilot room disclosed the pilot seats and the great switchboard to one side.
Islands of Space | John W CampbellAs his watch told him that Tom must be nearing the bottom he seated himself by the switchboard, headphones clamped over his ears.
Tom Swift and His Giant Telescope | Victor AppletonThe huge cables that brought the electric current to the switchboard lay molten on the floor.
The Whispering Spheres | Russell Robert WinterbothamIt was his impression, the switchboard operator's impression that it was some long distance.
Warren Commission (7 of 26): Hearings Vol. VII (of 15) | The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
British Dictionary definitions for switchboard
/ (ˈswɪtʃˌbɔːd) /
an installation in a telephone exchange, office, hotel, etc, at which the interconnection of telephone lines is manually controlled
an assembly of switchgear for the control of power supplies in an installation or building
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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