pay phone
Americannoun
-
pay phones
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pay phone
First recorded in 1935–40
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.
A coyote is bathed in red light; a cougar stalks near a grand piano; a man stands in a tropical jungle surrounded by mist; a pay phone off the hook dangles by its cord.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
There is a pay phone at the Cedar Grove Lodge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2024
As Chesnoff talks in the “Jinx” episode, red carpet footage from the “All Good Things” premiere briefly appears, as do clips of Lehrman posing as Katie and making a call from a pay phone.
From New York Times ● May 12, 2024
A light caught my eye, shining on a relic of a bygone analog era: a pay phone, housed under a Whidbey Telecom cover.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 30, 2023
The receiver of the pay phone was cold against my ear.
From "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead
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.
