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 hurried down a dark road to a nearby café, hoping to use the pay phone to call his wife.

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He knew to call from a pay phone.

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I remember sad Bob Seger on a pay phone in a hallway talking to somebody — like, “I’m headed to Michigan, where I should be a god, but I’m opening for Bachman-Turner Overdrive.”

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I went to a pay phone and called a Chrysler expert I knew about.

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

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