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Dictograph

[dik-tuh-graf, -grahf]
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Trademark.
  1. a brand name for a telephonic device with a highly sensitive transmitter obviating the necessity of a mouthpiece: used for listening to conversations secretly or obtaining a record of them.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for dictograph

Historical Examples

  • There's only one way to get what we want and that is to use a dictograph.

    Spring Street

    James H. Richardson

  • The dictograph, which had been all sound a moment before, was as mute as a cigar-box.

    The Silent Bullet

    Arthur B. Reeve

  • Theres a dictograph in the room you occupied, my dear, observed the monocle-man.

    Nothing But the Truth

    Frederic S. Isham

  • "The dictograph," I whispered to Rolston, and he pressed my arm to show he understood.

  • That was the day she and Dean were planning to put in a dictograph.

    The Apartment Next Door

    William Andrew Johnston

British Dictionary definitions for dictograph

Dictograph

noun
  1. trademark a telephonic instrument for secretly monitoring or recording conversations by means of a small, sensitive, and often concealed microphone
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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

Word Origin and History for dictograph

Dictograph

patented 1907 in U.S. by K.M. Turner and W. Donnan, from dictation + -graph "instrument for recording; something written."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper