phone

Alternative forms

• 'phone (dated)

Noun

phone (plural phones)

1. A device for transmitting conversations and other sounds in real time across distances, now often a small portable unit also capable of running software etc.

   Hyponyms: cell phone, speakerphone, clamshell phone, flip phone, mobile phone, smartphone

   Daragh's on the phone at the moment. He'll call you when he's finished.

   My phone ran out of battery.

   There's an old-fashioned phone in the doctor's waiting room - it doesn't work anymore, of course.

2. (colloquial) A person's telephone number (as a means of contact); digits.
   • 1994, Warren G feat. Nate Dogg Regulate (song)

     It was a clear black night, a clear white moon / Warren G was on the streets tryin' to consume / Some skirts for the eve so I can get some phones / Rollin' in my ride, chillin' all alone

Verb

phone (third-person singular simple present phones, present participle phoning, simple past and past participle phoned)

1. (transitive) To call (someone) using a telephone.

   Synonyms: call, ring, telephone

   Phone me as soon as you land at the airport.

Noun

phone (plural phones)

1. (phonetics) A speech segment that possesses distinct physical or perceptual properties, considered as a physical event without regard to its place in the phonology of a language.