direct distance dialing

American  

noun

1. a telephone network service feature enabling customers to direct-dial their long-distance calls.

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direct distance dialing British  

noun

1. British equivalent: subscriber trunk dialling.  a service by which telephone subscribers can obtain long-distance calls by dialling direct without the aid of an operator

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Example Sentences

The fuss has since died down, and the advent of direct distance dialing will, within the next decade, enable telephone users to call any major country in the world by dialing twelve digits.

From Time Magazine Archive

Some $2,085,000,000 of the '64 spending will go into building exchanges, laying cables and wiring for 1,200,000 new telephone numbers, and stringing more intercity trunk lines and microwave relay stations for direct distance dialing.

From Time Magazine Archive