pay phone

noun

1. a public telephone requiring that the caller deposit coins or use a credit card to pay for a call.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pay phone¹

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

He went to find a pay phone so he could call his loved ones and tell them he was OK.

From Los Angeles Times

“You could make a chance contact at any pay phone, but the odds of reaching someone out in the desert are incredibly remote,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times

Along a line of wooden power poles running to the horizon in both directions, 14 miles from the nearest paved road, a solitary pay phone beckons with the shrill sound of impatient civilization.

From Los Angeles Times

On top of the pay phone perches a nude Barbie doll.

From Los Angeles Times

When he finally reached Carla on a pay phone, she told him Anne Marie had been shot in the chest — not the ankle, as early reports claimed.

From Salon