call waiting

American  

noun

1. a telephone service feature whereby a person engaged in a telephone call is notified by a tone that a second call is being made to the same number, and is able to talk to either party while keeping the other on hold.

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Example Sentences

If we were lucky, we had call waiting.

From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2023

First Direct also had the shortest average call waiting time of 16 seconds.

From BBC • May 23, 2022

He lived in the Forest Hills neighborhood in Queens — he had grown up in the borough and graduated magna cum laude from Fordham — and did not have call waiting on his phone.

From Washington Post • Feb. 8, 2021

“I’d be on the phone with Orlando and have call waiting with Katy trying to call me,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 12, 2020

She holds the line until she is tempted to hang up, wondering all the while if her husband is trying to reach her from home, regretting not having call waiting.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri