phone book
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of phone book
First recorded in 1900–05
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 wouldn’t pay to hear her read the proverbial phone book, but I might shell out to hear her sing it, while cracking jokes in between vocalizing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2025
DNS, which stands for Domain Name System, is often likened to a phone book for the internet.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2025
Rooney and his friend Dave Woodman, a fellow animator, met Caselotti after finding her information in the phone book.
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2025
It’s astounding that Apple failed to realize that audiences will watch George Clooney and Brad Pitt read the phone book, so long as they do it together, and truncated “Wolfs’” stay in theaters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2025
Flipping through the Montgomery phone book, Sikora found a Q. P. Colvin still listed at the address mentioned in one of the old stories.
From "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice" by Phillip Hoose
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.
