Showing results for phreaking. Search instead for phreakings.

phreaking

British

/ ˈfriːkɪŋ /

noun

the act of gaining unauthorized access to telecommunication systems, esp to obtain free calls

"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

Etymology

Origin of phreaking

C20: blend of _freaking + _phone

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.

After he taught Apple's co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak the "phone phreaking" trick, they produced and sold the hardware to college students, and used the funds generated to launch their computer company.

From BBC • Nov. 20, 2017

Modern phones are just computers sending data over strands of glass like every other computer, and while you can still totally hack them, it’s not really phreaking in the classical sense.

From The Verge • Jul. 20, 2016

But he couldn’t get his mind off of blue boxes and phone phreaking.

From Salon • Feb. 16, 2013

Tufte was never busted for his youthful forays into phone hacking, also known as phone phreaking.

From Slate • Feb. 1, 2013

Soon he was into phreaking, and visiting English-speaking party lines.

From Underground by Dreyfus, Suelette

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