telegraph

[ tel-i-graf, -grahf ]

noun

1. an apparatus, system, or process for transmitting messages or signals to a distant place, especially by means of an electric device consisting essentially of a sending instrument and a distant receiving instrument connected by a conducting wire or other communications channel.
2. Nautical. an apparatus, usually mechanical, for transmitting and receiving orders between the bridge of a ship and the engine room or some other part of the engineering department.
3. a message sent by telegraph; a telegram.

verb (used with object)

1. to transmit or send (a message) by telegraph.
2. to send a message to (a person) by telegraph.
3. Informal. to divulge or indicate unwittingly (one's intention, next offensive move, etc.), as to an opponent or to an audience; broadcast:

   The fighter telegraphed his punch and his opponent was able to parry it. If you act nervous too early in the scene, you'll telegraph the character's guilt.

verb (used without object)

1. to send a message by telegraph.

telegraph

/ tɪˈlɛɡrəfɪst; ˈtɛlɪˌɡræf; -ˌɡrɑːf /

noun

1. 1. a device, system, or process by which information can be transmitted over a distance, esp using radio signals or coded electrical signals sent along a transmission line connected to a transmitting and a receiving instrument
   2. ( as modifier )

      telegraph pole

2. a message transmitted by such a device, system, or process; telegram

verb

1. to send a telegram to (a person or place); wire
2. tr to transmit or send by telegraph
3. informal.
   tr boxing to prepare to deliver (a punch) so obviously that one's opponent has ample time to avoid it
4. tr to give advance notice of (anything), esp unintentionally
5. informal.
   tr to cast (votes) illegally by impersonating registered voters

telegraph

/ tĕl′ĭ-grăf′ /

1. A communications system in which a message in the form of short, rapid electric impulses is sent, either by wire or radio, to a receiving station. Morse code is often used to encode messages in a form that is easily transmitted through electric impulses.

Derived Forms

• telegraphist, noun

Other Words From

• te·leg·ra·pher [t, uh, -, leg, -r, uh, -fer] especially British, te·leg·ra·phist noun
• pre·tel·e·graph adjective
• re·tel·e·graph verb
• un·tel·e·graphed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of telegraph¹

< French télégraphe (1792) a kind of manual signaling device; tele- ¹, -graph

Example Sentences

The telegraph had been invented about 40 years earlier, giving meteorologists the ability to communicate quickly between disparate locations—a prerequisite for predicting how storms will evolve.

From MIT Technology Review

Bringing inventions “to scale” in large markets was precisely the aim of big companies such as General Electric or American Telephone & Telegraph, which was then the national telephone monopoly.

From Science News

Messages from across the Atlantic used to come by boat, she says, then came copper cables to relay telegraph dispatches in the 1840s.

From Science News

In exchange for allowing it to provide universal telephone service, the US government required AT&T to stay out of other communication businesses, first by selling its telegraph subsidiary and later by steering clear of computing.

From MIT Technology Review

In May 1861, federal agents descended on Northern telegraph offices and seized transcribed messages in bulk.

From Washington Post

The Daily Telegraph's Lisa Armstrong called the show a "stupendously vacuous enterprise."

From The Daily Beast

Obama said, through laughter, according to an eyewitness report of the meeting in The Telegraph.

From The Daily Beast

Mr Obama said, through laughter, according to an eyewitness report of the meeting in The Telegraph.

From The Daily Beast

The Telegraph reports that he is fluent in Swahili and a keen zoologist.

From The Daily Beast

“Unlike Turkey or Egypt, we have no art-historical tradition,” he told The Telegraph in 2002.

From The Daily Beast

In the telegraph office a young signaler was sending a thrilling message to Umballa, Lahore and the north.

From Project Gutenberg

As there were no telegraph lines, another way had to be provided by which messages might be quickly sent.

From Project Gutenberg

Flocks of birds seemed to sing through the air, striking against the telegraph wires.

From Project Gutenberg

Suppose he should receive an acceptance by letter or telegraph but deny it, and insist that no contract had been made.

From Project Gutenberg

He proceeded to the tall telegraph pole and swarmed quickly up it.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• anticipate
• augur
• calculate
• conclude
• determine
• estimate
• foresee
• foretell
• gauge
• portend