telegraph

[tel-i-graf, -grahf]

noun

1. an apparatus, system, or process for transmitting messages or signals to a distant place, especially by means of an electric device consisting essentially of a sending instrument and a distant receiving instrument connected by a conducting wire or other communications channel.

2. Nautical.,  an apparatus, usually mechanical, for transmitting and receiving orders between the bridge of a ship and the engine room or some other part of the engineering department.

3. a message sent by telegraph; a telegram.

verb (used with object)

1. to transmit or send (a message) by telegraph.

2. to send a message to (a person) by telegraph.

3. Informal.,  to divulge or indicate unwittingly (one's intention, next offensive move, etc.), as to an opponent or to an audience; broadcast.

   The fighter telegraphed his punch and his opponent was able to parry it. If you act nervous too early in the scene, you'll telegraph the character's guilt.

verb (used without object)

1. to send a message by telegraph.

telegraph

/ tɪˈlɛɡrəfɪst, -ˌɡrɑːf, ˈtɛlɪˌɡræf /

noun

1. 1. a device, system, or process by which information can be transmitted over a distance, esp using radio signals or coded electrical signals sent along a transmission line connected to a transmitting and a receiving instrument

   2. ( as modifier )

      telegraph pole

2. a message transmitted by such a device, system, or process; telegram

verb

1. to send a telegram to (a person or place); wire

2. (tr) to transmit or send by telegraph

3. informal,  (tr) boxing to prepare to deliver (a punch) so obviously that one's opponent has ample time to avoid it

4. (tr) to give advance notice of (anything), esp unintentionally

5. informal,  (tr) to cast (votes) illegally by impersonating registered voters

telegraph

1. A communications system in which a message in the form of short, rapid electric impulses is sent, either by wire or radio, to a receiving station. Morse code is often used to encode messages in a form that is easily transmitted through electric impulses.

Other Word Forms

• telegrapher noun
• pretelegraph adjective
• retelegraph verb
• untelegraphed adjective
• telegraphist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of telegraph¹

< French télégraphe (1792) a kind of manual signaling device; tele- ¹, -graph

Example Sentences

Technology keeps remaking the way Americans invest, from the introduction of the electric telegraph in 1844 to the advent of artificial intelligence in just the past handful of years.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

With four words—“What hath God wrought!”—sent over the first working electric telegraph wire in 1844, Samuel Morse helped change the status quo, and helped catapult New York into a leading position.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

“Verbiage, memes, targeting, crude humor and cultural references that are immediately available often telegraph motives for violent symbolic attacks, but can also be amorphous or disjointed,” he said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

She was watching from the studio one day and that's when I hit a telegraph pole and disappeared off a cliff.

Read more on BBC

In a recent interview with Salon, democracy expert Katherine Stewart dubbed the tactic “one of the most frequently telegraphed stunts in the authoritarian canon.”

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• anticipate 
• augur 
• calculate 
• conclude 
• determine 
• estimate 
• foresee 
• foretell 
• gauge 
• portend