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
They were all looking for a man named Steven Reisner, whom they had been dating; somehow, none of them had ever gotten his phone number, so they had found me in the phone book.
From Slate • Oct. 29, 2024
I just don’t want you to think that I picked your name out of the phone book.
From "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky
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.
