pay phone
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of pay phone
First recorded in 1935–40
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I went to a pay phone and called a Chrysler expert I knew about.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 5, 2025
As Chesnoff talks in the “Jinx” episode, red carpet footage from the “All Good Things” premiere briefly appears, as do clips of Lehrman posing as Katie and making a call from a pay phone.
From New York Times • May 12, 2024
On each visit she gave him a handful of change for the pay phone.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2024
A light caught my eye, shining on a relic of a bygone analog era: a pay phone, housed under a Whidbey Telecom cover.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 30, 2023
Next to the parking lot stood a pay phone, with twenty people waiting to use it.
From "Eleven" by Tom Rogers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
