payphone

British

/ ˈpeɪˌfəʊn /

noun

a public telephone operated by coins or a phonecard

"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

Example Sentences

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payphone

He said he had been able to speak to his parents via a prison payphone and described the conversations as "excruciatingly painful".

From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2025

I had to be told how to use the payphone.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2024

Inspired by projects like the wind phone, a disconnected payphone in a garden in Ōtsuchi, Japan, where people can call the deceased, Ketcher decided to just do it herself.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 13, 2023

My mother used a payphone to call the store's security office and "confess" to her accidental shoplifting.

From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2023

There was a payphone set in the wall of the entryway, as you went in, below a notice board with rooms to rent, and puppies and kittens in need of good homes.

From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023