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definitions

telephonist

[tuh-lef-uh-nist, tel-uh-foh-]
noun Chiefly British.
  1. a telephone switchboard operator.

Origin of telephonist

First recorded in 1875–80; telephone + -ist
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for telephonist

Historical Examples of telephonist

  • In registering guns you take a telephonist and linesmen with you.

  • Then, just as the telephonist reported "through" again the inevitable happened.

    Servants of the Guns

    Jeffery E. Jeffery

  • This entailed getting up early, so after an hour's rest without sleeping, I set off with my telephonist.

    The Secrets of a Kuttite

    Edward O. Mousley

  • For the purpose of maintaining communication a French telephonist was quartered in our dug-out.

  • Close to the entrance a telephonist sat on the ground with an instrument beside him.

    Grapes of wrath

    Boyd Cable

British Dictionary definitions for telephonist

telephonist

noun
  1. British a person who operates a telephone switchboardAlso called (esp US): telephone operator
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