▪ I. radio, n. orig. U.S.
(ˈreɪdɪəʊ)
[Independent use of the initial element of radio-telegram, radio-telegraphy, etc.]
† I. 1. A message sent by wireless telegraphy or telephony; a radio-telegram. Obs.
| [1906 Internat. Radiotelegraphic Convention: Regulations (Internat. Radiotelegr. Conf., Berlin) 34 Radiotelegrams bear the service instruction ‘Radio’ in the preamble.] 1915 R. H. Davis With Allies 2 For any exhibition they gave of excitement or concern, the news the radio brought them might have been the result of a by-election. 1920 Glasgow Herald 10 Aug. 7 In reply the Polish Government sent the following radio. 1923 R. D. Paine Comrades of Rolling Ocean xiv. 245, I shall have to get a radio off to my wife to come on from Ohio and meet me. 1924 R. Keable Recompence (1926) i. 18 There's a radio in. The Balmoral sailed a fortnight after we did. |
II. 2. a. The transmission and reception of radio-frequency electromagnetic waves,
esp. as a means of communication that does not need a connecting wire; wireless telephony or telegraphy.
Orig. in
attrib. use only.
radio-receiver in
quot. 1903 is
prob. f. radio- 4 and not necessarily to be taken as evidence of a word
radio.
| 1903 Radio-receiver [see sense 5 a]. 1907 L. de Forest in Electr. World 22 June 1270/1 This factor, damping, is of far more vital import than any regulation of wave-lengths... Radio chaos will certainly be the result until..regulation is enforced. 1911 Radio-communication [see sense 5 a]. 1912 Radio station [see sense 7]. 1913 Radio operator [see sense 5 a]. 1914 Radio transmitter [see sense 5 a]. 1917 Electr. Experimenter Jan. 650 (heading) Election returns flashed by radio to 7,000 amateurs. 1919 Pop. Sci. Monthly Mar. 116/3 Instead of taking bearings by known landmarks, the bearings are determined from known wireless stations by means of radio. 1921 Sci. Amer. 2 July 5/1 Armstrong became interested in radio and erected a radio station at his home. 1922 C. W. Taussig (title) The book of radio: a complete, simple explanation of radio reception and transmission. 1924 Glasgow Herald 26 Jan. 11/5 At the time when radio is in its infancy, experimentalists midway in the United States summoned their friends to hear the Atlantic waves and Pacific surf simultaneously. 1948 A. L. Albert Radio Fund. x. 380 In radio, the feed-back coil of an oscillator is sometimes called a tickler. 1960 C. H. Gibbs-Smith Aeroplane xi. 76 In August [1910], radio was used for the first time between the ground and an aeroplane in flight. 1964 R. H. Baker Astron. (ed. 8) xvii. 505 (heading) Tracing of spiral arms by radio. 1975 Fink & McKenzie Electronics Engineers' Handbk. xviii. 62 In radio, polarization usually refers to the electric vector. 1976 Perkowski & Stral Joy of CB i. 6 It's the initial onslaught that is difficult to take, and that is somewhat the condition that we find ourselves in today with CB radio. |
b. Organized wireless broadcasting in sound; the sound broadcasting network or service as a whole; sound broadcasting considered as a medium of communication or as an art form.
| 1922 Sci. Amer. June 376/2 Radio today is a continuous performance. You purchase your ticket in the form of a receiving set..and then listen in..to the music of today..the news of the minute, stock quotations, and so on. 1944 W. C. Greet World Words p.v, For effective radio..pronunciation is not an opportunity to be elegant but an everyday problem of what to do with..words. 1946 B.B.C. Year Bk. 29 Plays were a popular form of radio before the beginning of the war. 1951 Ann. Reg. 1950 415 Not only did these forums..make good radio, but they were also excellent publicity for the B.B.C. 1958 Listener 25 Sept. 482/1 It [sc. a play] was also made into some very good radio by the adaptation of the prologue spoken by Luxury and her daughter Poverty. 1960 B.B.C. Handbk. 33 In addition to the series of Party Political Broadcasts, the Budget broadcasts, and the Ministerial broadcasts (on sound radio and television), there were reports on Parliamentary topics..in the Home Service. 1966 Listener 2 June 816/3 Going back over reviews of the past three months I cannot find a dozen productions which were unequivocally radio and nothing else. 1967 Ibid. 18 May 653/1 In the evening they will have radio to listen to, television to watch, and darts and billiards as well in a light and attractive recreation room. 1972 G. Green Great Moments in Sport: Soccer xxii. 186 They invited me..to examine the organisational set-up they were planning—for spectators, press, radio, television and the rest. 1977 Daily Tel. 9 Feb. 11/2 The programme itself was not an outstanding piece of radio. 1978 Times 12 June 3/2 Mainly because of economies, radio had become very run down... Some equipment had not been replaced, studios were becoming less suitable. Ibid. 3/3 He welcomed the competition of commercial radio. |
c. (Preceded by a proper name,
esp. of a place.) A particular radio station or network.
| 1943 C. J. Rolo Radio goes to War xxii. 207 The Berlin radio continued to rely most heavily on divisive propaganda. 1958 Whitaker's Almanack 1959 582/1 Moscow radio announced that Russia had launched an earth satellite. 1967 Listener 12 Jan. 58/1, I do recall that Cairo radio—as well as many Western sources—had interpreted the Soviet warning to Britain and France requiring them to cease operations as implying a threat to bomb London and Paris by missiles. 1968 Ibid. 27 June 824/1 Ask Goose Bay Radio if they have any other traffic in this area. 1975 Whitaker's Almanack 593/1 The Ethiopian army took control of the national radio station in Addis Ababa and of the independent Voice of the Gospel Radio owned by the World Lutheran Federation. 1978 Oxford Mail 20 Feb. 1, Twelve Egyptian soldiers died and 19 were injured in the commando raid at Larnaca airport, Cyprus radio said today. |
d. (With capital initial.) Forming the first part of the proper names of particular radio stations or services (the second part
freq. being a place-name);
Radio 1,
Radio 2,
Radio 3,
Radio 4, (also
Radio One, etc.), the four national radio networks of the BBC (inaugurated on 30 Sept. 1967 in place of the programme services that had existed previously).
| 1920 Wireless World Jan. 587/2 A new Dutch wireless company, called the Nederlandsche Telegraaf Maatchappij ‘Radio-Holland’ has been formed... ‘Radio-Holland’ acquires the rights of wireless installations on Dutch mercantile vessels..and the contracts relating thereto. 1926 Encycl. Brit. I. 455/1 In 1924–25 the Cie. Fran{cced}aise de Radiophonie set up ‘Radio Paris’..and provincial stations at Toulouse and Lyons. 1938 Ann. Reg. 1937 161 On New Year's Eve, a message from General Smuts, one of the founders of the League, was transmitted from ‘Radio-Nations’, the League wireless station at Geneva. 1958 Economist 25 Oct. 331/1 Radio Free Europe..concentrates on Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria, while Radio Liberation broadcasts to the Soviet Union, in no less than seventeen languages. 1964 Daily Tel. 13 May 1/8 Radio Atlanta, Britain's second floating commercial ‘pirate’ radio station, went on the air with programmes for the first time yesterday. 1967 Listener 17 Aug. 194/1 The new 247 metres network will be known as Radio 1. The 1500 metres and VHF network will be Radio 2, and..the present Third Network will become Radio 3 and the Home-Service network Radio 4. 1968 B.B.C. Handbk. 29 Our first local station, Radio Leicester, began broadcasting on 8 November 1967, followed shortly afterwards by Radio Sheffield and Radio Merseyside. 1973 P. Dickinson Gift ix. 139 Penny was listening to Radio One. 1976 Daily Tel. 30 June 1/4 Radio Uganda, monitored in Nairobi, gave no immediate indication of the ‘penalties’ involved. 1976 Times 29 Sept. 16/6 That all this may be entering the field of immodesty is redeemed by a quick smile and the admission that perhaps Radio 3 takes itself too seriously. 1978 Bookseller 1 July 54/1 Mike Stevenson, author of Ward Lock's biography of cricketer Ray Illingworth..has been interviewed on Radios Leicester, Leeds, Cleveland, Pennine, Piccadilly, Hallam and City. |
3. Radio equipment;
spec. a receiving set.
| [1913: cf. radio operator in sense 5 a.] 1917 Electr. Experimenter May 3/1 When the German spies..found that it was not very healthy to operate their outfits in attics or in house chimneys..they simply put their radios in touring cars, cleverly concealing the aerial wires inside of the car bodies. 1925 H. L. Foster Trop. Tramp with Tourists 97 It fairly shrieked with the blare of jazz—of jazz from radios, jazz from mechanical pianos. 1936 King Edward VIII in Manch. Guardian Weekly 6 Mar. 185/1 Science has made it possible for me..to speak to you all over the radio. 1941 Auden New Year Let. ii. 36 He moves on tiptoe round the room, Turns on the radio to mark Isolde's Sehnsucht for the dark. 1968 New Society 22 Aug. 265/2 Non-U radio/U wireless is no longer true; the U call it a radio too. 1973 J. Pattinson Search Warrant ii. 28 There was a load of noise... It sounded like a radio going full belt on a pop-music channel. |
4. = radio spectrum in sense 7 below; radio wavelengths.
| 1968 Physical Rev. Lett. XXI. 1540/1 NGC1275 and 3C120..are a hundred times more luminous in the radio than most of the Seyferts. 1975 Nature 3 Jan. 7/1 It [sc. the Crab nebula] is unique in that it has been detected over the entire electromagnetic spectrum from radio through infra⁓red and the visual to X rays and γ rays. |
5. attrib. a. In general uses, as
radio aerial,
radio antenna,
radio apparatus,
radio beacon (
= beacon n. 6 d),
radio beam,
radio bearing,
radio black-out,
radio cabinet,
radio communication,
radio countermeasure,
radio detector,
radio fade-out,
radio fix,
radio intercept,
radio link (
= link n.2 3 f),
radio marker,
radio mast,
radio message,
radio operator,
radio receiver (in
quot. 1903
prob. f. radio- 4),
radio relay,
radio room,
radio set,
radio shop,
radio traffic,
radio transmission,
radio transmitter,
radio valve.
| 1949 E. B. Moullin (title) Radio aerials. 1968 Times 16 Oct. 8/8 It also seems to have a large radio aerial more suitable for a trip to the planets. |
| 1927 B. F. Dashiell Popular Guide to Radio v. 71 (heading) The use of radio antennas and grounds. 1972 K. Bonfiglioli Don't point that Thing at Me xi. 89 It was the same car..but overnight it had..acquired a suit of whitewall tyres and another radio antenna. |
| 1912 Statutes U.S.A. XXXVII. i. 303 The President..may cause the closing of any station for radio communication and the removal therefrom of all radio apparatus. 1916 Lit. Digest (N.Y.) 1 Jan 13/1 It is conceivable that this small body of men might have neither sending or receiving radio-apparatus. 1919, etc. Radio beacon [see beacon n. 6 d]. 1966 D. Francis Flying Finish ii. 27, I flew contentedly along..checking my direction by the radio beacons over which I passed. |
| 1923 E. W. Marchant Radio Telegr. i. 12 A ship coming into harbour will pick up the radio beam at the instant at which its direction is towards the ship. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. IX. 20/1 Radio beams that are transmitted from moving aircraft to the ground will have an apparent change of frequency. 1977 Radio beam [see radio detector below]. 1978 R. V. Jones Most Secret War xvii. 139 Milch, the Head of the Luftwaffe, was advising Goering that the current policy of night attacks was useless without special radio-beam devices, like the new X-Gerät. |
| 1935 Radio bearing [see fix n. 3]. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 174/1 The accuracy of radio bearings.. [is] dependent upon properly functioning equipment and skilful operation. 1958 New Scientist 6 Mar. 8/3 The storm and its associated radio blackout. |
| 1925 Scribner's Mag. Sept. 19/1 Have you seen a radio cabinet which..actually does not look like one? |
| 1911 Statutes U.S.A. XXXVI. i. 629 (heading) An act to require apparatus and operators for radio-communication on certain ocean steamers. 1912 Ibid. XXXVII. i. 308 The expression ‘radio communication’ as used in this Act means any system of electrical communication by telegraphy or telephony without the aid of any wire connecting the points from and at which the radiograms, signals, or other communications are sent or received. 1942 Electronic Engin. XV. 116/1 Planck's constant h, is a universal one which is applicable to all radiations, including..the wavelengths used in radio-communication. 1947 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LI. 425/2 The use of radio counter⁓measures, introduced for the first time with such telling effect in the last war, will be a prominent feature in all future large-scale conflicts. 1978 R. V. Jones Most Secret War xxii. 180 With our nightfighters and guns powerless, radio countermeasures were our only means of defence. |
| 1936 Discovery Mar. 70/1 Each of these observatories is equipped..with..a radio detector, which enables the specialist to learn at once which station is transmitting. 1977 C. Forbes Avalanche Express x. 106 It takes two radio-detector vans..five minutes to take a fix on a secret transmitter—to plot from two locations the cross-point of the radio beams indicating where the transmission is coming from. |
| 1937 Radio fade-out [see fade-out 3]. 1942 Radio fix [see fix n. 3]. 1977 C. Forbes Avalanche Express xxi. 218 The operator in the radio-detector van..reached for the radio-telephone... ‘We have a radio fix, sir... Positive.’ |
| 1974 G. Markstein Cooler liv. 192 It was a radio intercept by security monitoring. The message, decoded, read: ‘Stand by 24-hourly.’ |
| 1928, etc. Radio link [see link n.2 3 f]. 1971 A. Diment Think Inc. xii. 208 ‘I love you,’ I said and cut the radio link. 1978 Dumfries Courier 20 Oct. 10/2 A special Police control room on site at the NEC will have radio links with Police helicopter, car, motor cycle and foot patrols. |
| 1933 Nat. Geogr. Mag. May 618/2 Radio-range and radio-marker beacons. 1942 B. A. Shields Air Pilot Training xxx. 515 Low-powered radio stations, called radio markers,..are placed along the airways to serve as radio fixes. 1950 ‘D. Divine’ King of Fassarai v. 38 The metereological station was completed... The radio masts went up. 1976 Cumberland & Westmorland Herald 27 Nov., The committee approved the Corporation's application to build a radio mast almost 50 ft. high and a modular equipment building. |
| 1916 Lit. Digest (N.Y.) 1 Jan 13/2 The radio-message containing this intelligence is flashed over the hills. 1974 M. Hastings Dragon Island xiii. 112, I have to..send a radio message to Djakarta. |
| 1913 Year-bk. Wireless Telegr. 96 The radio operator..must furnish to the inspector evidence that he is ‘skilled in the use of the apparatus’. 1925 Scribner's Mag. July 44/2 Hank Quiller was rated as chief radio operator on board the S.S. Omega. 1974 G. Markstein Cooler lxii. 218 If we find your killer we find your mysterious radio operator. |
| 1903 C. H. Sewall Wireless Telegr. iv. 154 The first radio-receiver in which cause and effect were observed and recognized was devised by Hertz in 1886. 1929 J. H. Morecroft Elem. Radio Communication vii. 220 With coils having a power factor of about 1 per cent, as is the case with the average radio receiver, one tuned circuit will not give sufficient selectivity to eliminate interference. 1976 B. Jackson Flameout (1977) i. 22 They all wore Bellboy radio receivers in their shirt pockets, in case they could not be reached by telephone. |
| 1926 Wireless World 1 Sept. 307/1 The wireless signals received in this Radio Relay Office are relayed to the Central Radio Office in the same building. 1927 B. F. Dashiell Popular Guide to Radio xi. 195 The radio relay scheme, whereby a program from a central station is broadcast, received and rebroadcast by other stations, has been successfully tried out. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. V. 520/2 Radio relays are used for simultaneous transmission of up to hundreds of telephone conversations over a trunk route. |
| 1921 R. D. Paine Comrades of Rolling Ocean xiv. 244 A message from the radio-room, sir. 1976 ‘J. Fraser’ Who steals my Name? ii. 15 Later..the radio room springs into life, dispatching police cars..over the face of the city. |
| 1913 Proc. IRE I. 43 The purpose of this paper is to describe some recent radio sets designed for the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America to meet the new specifications of the United States Navy. 1926 S. Lewis Mantrap ii. 22 How necessary for hardy camp-life are the portable radio set, the pneumatic cushion. 1971 Daily Tel. 13 Sept. 1/8 The radio ham..heard two men planning the raid over short-wave radio sets. 1974 E. Jones Barlow comes to Judgement 127 He works in a radio shop in Bayswater. |
| 1927 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. CCIV. 240 Beam stations are carrying regular radio traffic between England and Canada. 1973 D. Kyle Raft of Swords (1974) i. ix. 88 There had been remarkably little radio traffic. So he would sit in the radio room. |
| 1935 C. G. Burge Compl. Bk. Aviation 506/1 The number of channels available for radio transmission is limited. 1974 G. Markstein Cooler li. 181 The interception stations..noted every illicit radio transmission. |
| 1914 R. Stanley Text Bk. Wireless Telegr. xix. 300 The range of a given size of radio transmitter has been greatly increased since the time when coherer detectors were used in conjunction with a Morse tape machine or siphon recorder. 1970 V. Canning Great Affair x. 167 He probably had a secret radio transmitter and receiver somewhere. |
| 1929 Radio Times 8 Nov. 434/2 (Advt.), The Radio Valves—with the only filament that has stood the test of time. 1970 P. Dickinson Seals ix. 178 It provided a short-cut in the mass⁓production of radio valves. |
b. Connected with, participating in, or transmitted as part of organized sound broadcasting, as
radio acting,
radio actor,
radio actress,
radio adaptation,
radio announcer,
radio audience,
radio ballad,
radio broadcast,
radio broadcasting,
radio bulletin,
radio celebrity,
radio comedian,
radio commentator,
radio commercial,
radio company,
radio critic,
radio criticism,
radio drama,
radio dramatist,
radio interview,
radio journalism,
radio journalist,
radio listener,
radio news,
radio organization,
radio personality,
radio play,
radio producer,
radio production,
radio programme,
radio reporter,
radio revue,
radio script,
radio serial,
radio series,
radio spot,
radio star,
radio talk,
radio writer.
| 1940 Radio Times 23 Aug. 6/4 Frederick Allen..had also done a considerable amount of radio acting and singing before becoming a BBC announcer. 1968 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 15 Nov. 32/3 He returned to a contract with Mr. Beaumont, radio-acting, poetry recitals, bit parts in films. |
| 1938 Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Year 123/1 The widespread unionization of radio actors. 1975 Times 20 Sept. 8/4 That uncommon breed, the exceptional radio actor. |
| 1972 P. Black Biggest Aspidistra in World i. iv. 39 Jenny was played by Lilian Harrison, the leading radio actress of her day. |
| 1931 T. H. Pear Voice & Personality viii. 94 Holt Marvell's radio⁓adaptation of..Carnival. |
| 1927 Scribner's Mag. Apr. 437/2 We must listen to radio announcers who insist that the instant programme is most colorful. 1970 ‘T. Coe’ Wax Apple (1973) iv. 29 His voice was deep and resonant, like that of a radio announcer. |
| 1932 Radio Times 29 July 251/3 Christopher Stone keeps the radio audience amused with a selection from the new discs. 1972 P. Black Biggest Aspidistra in World i. vii. 56 Mabel Constanduros, who in 1925 introduced the Buggins family..aiming..at the entire radio audience listening in its own family groups. |
| 1960 Times 16 Aug. 5/2 Singing the Fishing; radio ballad by Ewan MacColl and Charles Parker. |
| 1956 H. Kurnitz Invasion of Privacy xviii. 117 The late radio broadcasts..had given the Morley case a big spread. a 1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1976) II. 549 A B.B.C. experiment for live radio broadcasts of extracts from the House of Commons debate. |
| 1922 Radio broadcasting [see radiography 2]. 1975 Listener 25 Dec. 853/3 The poem, with its five voices, is suited to radio broadcasting. |
| 1965 B.B.C. Handbk. 65 During the day well over twenty million people listen to at least one radio bulletin. |
| 1948 E. E. Cummings Let. 20 Aug. (1969) 184 A charming & handsome & tall & sweet youth named Billy; think he later became a radio-celebrity. |
| 1930 H. Nicolson Diary 18 Oct. (1966) 57, I have become ‘famous’ as a radio comedian, and shall never be able to live down the impression thus acquired. 1980 S. Brett Dead Side of Mike vi. 60 The programme was merely a showcase for the talents of a once-loved radio comedian. |
| 1938 Radio commentator [see commentator 2 c]. 1953 Manch. Guardian 21 May 1/4 Raymond Gram Swing was the most powerful and admired radio commentator working between the two major allies during the war. 1978 Listener 27 July 111/3 The skilled radio commentator..was there to tell you what is happening. |
| 1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 117/2 The big hefty heartiness of this is very familiar in the radio commercials. 1980 Broadcast 7 July 17/2 (Advt.), Production of radio commercials, voice-overs, stereo programmes. |
| 1920 Sci. Amer. 24 July 79/1 A leading radio company is about to begin construction of a super-powered radio station. 1938 Joyce Let. 6 June (1966) III. 424 His (my son's) experience of broadcasting in the U.S.A...is that these Radio Companies are all in watertight compartments and that the director who has charge of the singing almost resents even a friendly introduction from the director, say, who controls the sports programme. 1974 IBA Evidence to Annan Comm. 46 The local radio companies should retain their creative initiative. |
| 1929 Vox 9 Nov. 3/1 Heaven forbid that I should try to emulate the new Radio critics of the Daily Express who have apparently been told..to sit down immediately after tea and listen right through the evening, after which they are expected to discuss their indigestion attractively next morning. 1966 B.B.C. Handbk. 14 Every critic (and who is not his own television and radio critic?) would do well to temper his occasional rage with the thought that there is much to admire about the BBC. 1976 Listener 15 Jan. 42/1, I stopped being radio critic of the Guardian. |
| 1940 R. S. Lambert Ariel & all his Quality vii. 173 It seemed desirable for the BBC to try and build up a..solid school of radio criticism. 1978 Listener 27 July 111/2, I was writing radio criticisms for The Listener. |
| 1925 Glasgow Herald 1 Sept. 8 One of the many limitations of radio-drama will be the impossibility of introducing any but audible actions of a simple kind. 1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 157/2 Soap operas are written and acted quite as well as the ordinary evening radio drama. |
| 1929 Radio Times 8 Nov. 388/2 Conrad has, curiously, attracted the radio-dramatist. 1944 Radio dramatist [see actuality 4 b]. |
| 1926 G. Frankau My Unsentimental Journey ii. 37 A new form of torment, the ‘radio interview’. 1974 Guardian 21 Mar. 1/3 Mr Edward Short, Leader of the House, said in a radio interview. |
| 1968 Listener 21 Mar. 380/2 When the war was over Ed Murrow went back home, the ‘first authentic original’ of radio journalism. 1977 Times 14 May 10/5 Mary Goldring is a radio journalist... She has now concluded three reports on contemporary India. |
| 1926 Public Opinion 2 July 17/2, 27,000,000 persons are now radio listeners in the United States. 1974 Listener 24 Jan. 123/3 Faithful radio listeners were entitled to their regular programmes. |
| 1940 J. Flanner in New Yorker 7 Dec. 60/2 To Parisians, the most trusted radio news is what they get from the American short-wave broadcasts. 1973 A. Price October Men iii. 46 Not a word in the morning paper..or on the radio news. |
| 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio x. 168 At a radio organization such as the BBC it is easy to feel spoilt for choice. |
| 1941 J. W. Welch in Listener (1978) 18 May 626/1 The BBC is now building up Joad as a radio personality. 1972 P. Black Biggest Aspidistra in World i. vii. 56 Tommy Handley..in 1929..was already a radio personality. |
| 1924 Variety 24 Dec. 35/4 Gene Rouse, announcer for WOAW, has written a ‘radio play’. 1973 M. Amis Rachel Papers 75, I slammed the door, so that the sounds of the radio-play on the kitchen wireless were reduced to an underground rumble. |
| 1955 T. H. Pear Eng. Social Differences ix. 195 ‘Living by the clock’ is a virtue in a radio-producer. 1974 Listener 14 Feb. 219/2 The radio producer hears the play over and over again. The lives and all the action become crystal-clear to him. |
| 1959 D. Cooke Lang. Mus. iv. 200 A private tape-recording of a radio-production of King Lear. 1978 Listener 2 Feb. 152/1 The Beggar's Opera..is a splendid new radio production. |
| 1922 Variety 10 Mar. 7/2 Among the theatres which will provide acts exclusively for the ‘Star's’ radio programs are the Shubert, Orpheum,..Royal and 12th streets. 1925 A. H. Morse Radio v. 78 There need be no limitation of the public enjoyment of the radio programme. 1972 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 27 May 18/2 In Israel I was invited to go on a radio program to discuss the problem. |
| 1926 Wireless World 18 Aug. 231/1 The radio reporters are kept busy all the summer, carrying their microphones to the important sporting events, [etc.]. 1975 Times 6 Jan. 12/8 Why did Sir Keith tell a radio reporter..that it [sc. a speech] was meant to be ‘light-hearted’? |
| 1929 Radio Times 8 Nov. 395/3 The brilliant little skit..which enlivened a recent radio revue. 1941 B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? ii. 30 He had written a radio script. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio ix. 156 Such a ‘radio script’ will probably have to be reinterpreted. |
| 1958 M. Kennedy Outlaws on Parnassus ii. 28 A Dickens novel had to end sometime, whereas a radio serial can go on for ever. 1977 S. Brett Star Trap iv. 40, I can't do Friday... Doing a pilot of a radio series. |
| 1973 Black Panther 28 Apr. 11/2 Bobby has layed out his program..in countless radio spots, interviews and discussions. |
| 1932 Radio Times 29 July 279/3 (Advt.), A permanent..record of your favourite radio stars. 1980 P. Ableman Shoestring's Finest Hour i. 11 Lonely women who ring up famous radio stars..in the hope of getting to sleep with them. |
| 1940 R. S. Lambert Ariel & all his Quality vii. 173 Experts are able..to express themselves freely..about current radio drama, music, talks, and television programmes. 1943 D. Powell Time to be Born i. 8 My days are filled with my war committees and my refugee children and my radio talks. 1977 Listener 16 June 800/3 BBC Television now appears to be giving radio talks. |
| 1944 L. MacNeice Christopher Columbus 8 The radio writer has to think of words in the mouths of actors. |
c. Designating devices controlled or operated by radio, as
radio bomb; vehicles equipped with radio for receiving information, directions, etc., as
radio cab,
radio car,
radio taxi,
radio van.
| 1974 D. Seaman Bomb that could Lip-Read xxiv. 243 Once they discover it was a radio bomb, they will take this hamlet apart. 1977 Times 18 July 1/4 (heading) Provisional IRA widen use of radio bombs. |
| 1955 J. B. Priestley in Priestley & Hawkes Journey down Rainbow xii. 173 Most of the taxis down here are like our radio cabs in London, but the voice of the distant operator, calling cabs and giving addresses, is always left turned on. 1977 F. Weldon in Winter's Tales 23 190 Maureen's on the phone, calling radio cabs. |
| 1925 Sci. Amer. Nov. 308/1 The Yard has seven radio-equipped motor cars attached to the Criminal Investigation flying squad... These radio cars not only aid in detecting crime but also perform a helpful service in regulating heavy traffic along the highways. 1967 Listener 19 Jan. 95/2 WINS reporters were there with their radio cars and tape recorders inching the story along every few minutes or so with eye-witness reports, [etc.]. 1973 ‘E. McBain’ Hail to Chief i. 3 Two radio-car cops, on routine patrol. |
| 1962 Spectator 13 Apr. 486 Lots of tourist information, though we do have radio-taxis here too. 1977 E. Ambler Send no more Roses x. 215, I had used the time..to check out the local radio-taxi services. |
| 1950 J. Flanner in New Yorker 8 Apr. 79/1 On the street, crowds had collected and a radio van had arrived. 1974 N. Freeling Dressing of Diamond 10 They [sc. the police] say they've two radio vans. |
d. Chiefly
Astr. Connected with the natural emission of radio waves (
freq. denoting objects or entities which emit radio waves in unusually large quantities or are being considered as sources of radio waves), as
radio brightness,
radio emission,
radio emitter,
radio flux,
radio galaxy,
radio noise,
radio observatory,
radio sky,
radio source,
radio sun,
radio universe.
| 1960 Rodman & Varsavsky tr. I. S. Shklovsky's Cosmic Radio Waves iii. 174 The radio brightness of the hypothetical objects, averaged over time, would thus exceed that of the sun by some ten orders of magnitude. 1974 Sci. Amer. Aug. 26/3 In the direction of this cloud of ionized gas, designated 30 Doradus, there is a decrease in the radio brightness of the sky. |
| 1949 Nature 12 Nov. 816/1 Only a proportion of the flares have associated radio bursts, the bigger flares being the more likely to produce strong radio emissions. 1958 Listener 27 Nov. 870/1 One of the earliest of the post-war surprises was the discovery by Appleton and Hey that the sun spots and flares which occasionally appear on the solar surface are associated with large and irregular increases in the solar radio emissions. 1978 Nature 14 Sept. 111/1 One of the most important features of the jovian decametric radioemission comes from the geometry of the observed radiation. |
| 1954 Ann. Reg. 1953 373 Future accurate measurements of the positions of cosmic radio emitters. |
| 1951 Monthly Notices R. Astron. Soc. CXI. 366 The intensity of the radio flux from M31 observed on the Earth at a wavelength of 1·89 metres is 10—24 watts/square metre/c.p.s. 1960 Rodman & Varsavsky tr. I. S. Shklovsky's Cosmic Radio Waves vi. 356 The relative radio emitting power of radio galaxies is 103 and even 105 times as great as for normal galaxies. 1973 Sci. Amer. Sept. 72/3 Many ‘classic’ radio galaxies consist of an optically bright galaxy situated halfway between two radio-emitting regions. 1979 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVII. 582/1 The so-called ‘radio galaxies’, whose power output in radio waves exceeds the total galactic luminosity of all the stars. |
| 1933 Gen. Electr. Rev. XXXVI. 201/1 The radio-noise meter..detects radio noise, measures its intensity, and locates its source. 1946 Nature 17 Aug. 234/1 The solar radio noise from sunspots is also characterized by strong fluctuations. 1977 New Yorker 19 Sept. 137/1 In 1964, two radio astronomers..made the unexpected discovery that there was cosmic radio noise entering their system which they could do nothing to get rid of. |
| 1958 Ann. Reg. 1957 472 The principal radio-observatories developed during the previous few years. 1969 Times 18 Apr. 12/6 The Parkes radio observatory in New South Wales. |
| 1959 Davies & Palmer Radio Studies of Universe iv. 46 The early maps of the radio sky were made with small aerials which could not readily distinguish radio sources from the background of radio emission. |
| 1950 Monthly Notices R. Astron. Soc. CX. 519 The five major extra-galactic nebulae in the selected area are listed..together with the radio sources which appear to be associated with them. 1961 New Scientist 5 Jan. 50/1 About 30 per cent of the accurately measured and suitably placed radio sources can be identified with visible galaxies. 1971 Sci. Amer. May 56/3 Before 1960 radio astronomers had identified and catalogued hundreds of radio sources. |
| 1961 Webster, Radio sun. 1965 M. R. Kundu Solar Radio Astron. i. 1 Decimeter-wave observations of the radio sun during a solar eclipse. 1974 G. L. Verschuur Invisible Universe iii. 32 (heading) The radio sun and planets. |
| 1960 Rodman & Varsavsky tr. I. S. Shklovsky's Cosmic Radio Waves vi. 355 Further investigations of the variations in the cosmic radio-wave background at high galactic latitudes will undoubtedly reveal new peculiarities of the ‘radio universe’. |
6. Comb. (
cf. radio- 4):
radio-controlled (so
radio-control vb. trans.),
radio-emitting,
radio-equipped,
radio-linked,
radio-minded,
radio-receiving,
radio-steered,
radio-transmitting adjs.| 1959 K. Vonnegut Sirens of Titan vii. 121 Without Boaz, their real commander, to radio-control them, they fought bitterly. 1979 Amat. Photographer 30 May 162/3 The Post Office refusing him a license to radio-control a camera. |
| 1936 Punch 4 Mar. 273/1 Then possibly another sequel in which the generations are estranged over the question of small rubber electric radio-controlled fish. 1958 I. Asimov Naked Sun i. 9 The radio-controlled flight would be smooth; there would scarcely be any sensation of motion once the plane was airborne. 1976 L. St. Clair Fortune in Death xi. 109 The gates swung wide—radio-controlled. |
| 1960 Radio-emitting [see radio galaxy in sense 5 d above]. 1971 Sci. Amer. May 56/3 Object 3C 48 was thought to be a unique kind of radio-emitting star in our own galaxy until 1963. |
| 1935 C. G. Burge Compl. Bk. Aviation 499/1 By means of radio and land-line the pilot of a radio-equipped 'plane is to-day in closer touch with the ground than the driver of a normal road vehicle. 1963 A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 36, I wouldn't like to say what my radio-equipped bikes and plane save me in time and labour. 1974 H. R. F. Keating Bats fly up for Inspector Ghote iii. 33 Ghote, in yet a third radio-linked car, would be a useful addition to the team. |
| 1930 Wireless World 10 Dec. 655/3 To the housewife anxious to please her radio-minded family I would say fill the Christmas pudding this year with a fair sprinkling of miniature fuse lamps instead of with sixpences. |
| 1922 Glasgow Herald 21 Apr. 10 Already the number of radio receiving outfits installed in private houses runs into seven figures. 1936 Discovery Mar. 69/2 Some 70 radio-receiving observatories all round the earth. |
| 1917 Nature 2 Aug. 442/2 Attempts to develop a radio-steered torpedo. 1935 C. G. Burge Compl. Bk. Aviation 511/1 The purpose of the radio compass is to determine whether or not one is flying directly towards a radio-transmitting station. 1959 Observer 3 May 17/5 The Authority has now developed radiotransmitting tide gauges which will continuously relay to Gravesend the height of the water at all points of navigational importance. 1978 R. V. Jones Most Secret War xliv. 422 We had not known beforehand of these radio-transmitting samples. |
7. Special
Combs. (
cf. radio- 4):
radio altimeter, an altimeter which functions by emitting a radio signal and measuring the time it takes to be reflected back from the ground;
radio amateur, one who makes a hobby of picking up, and often also transmitting, radio messages;
radio compass, a radio direction-finder used for the purpose of navigation;
radio contact, the state or an instance of being in communication by radio;
radio dial = dial n.1 6 e;
radio direction-finder = direction-finder; so
radio direction-finding;
radio dish = dish n. 4 b;
radio echo = echo n. 1 d;
radio energy, energy transmitted in the form of radio waves;
radio engineering, the branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction, and operation of radio equipment; so
radio engineer;
radio ham colloq. [
ham n.1 6]
= radio amateur above;
radio industry, the radio engineering or sound broadcasting industries;
radio licence, a licence certificate that owners of radios are required to have; (such licences for radio only were abolished in the
U.K. in 1971);
radio-loud a. Astr., emitting significant quantities of radio waves;
radio man, (
a) a man who operates, repairs, or otherwise deals with radios; (
b) a man employed in sound broadcasting;
radio map Astr., a diagram showing the strength of the radio emission from different parts of the sky;
radio microphone (see
quot. 1962); also (
colloq.)
radio mike;
radio navigation, navigation by means of radio signals; so
ˌradio-naviˈgational a.;
radio net, a system of intercommunicating radio sets, operated
esp. by a police force or similar body;
radio network, a system of radio stations for navigation, communication, or broadcasting; a sound broadcasting organization or channel;
radio pager = pager n.3; so
radio paging vbl. n.;
radio-ˈphonograph U.S. = radio-gramophone;
radio pill colloq. = endoradiosonde s.v. endo-;
radio pirate = pirate n. 4 b;
radio-ˈquiet a., emitting a negligible amount of radio waves; hence
radio-ˈquietness;
radio-radar, used
attrib. of devices, systems, etc., combining radio and radar;
radio range, (
a)
= radio spectrum below; (
b) a radio beacon transmitting directional radio signals which can be used by aircraft possessing appropriate receiving apparatus to determine the bearing of the transmitter;
radio shack, a small building housing radio equipment; (
esp. Naut.) a radio room;
radio show, (
a) an exhibition of radio equipment, etc.; (
b) a radio programme,
usu. featuring light entertainment;
radio signal, a radio message; a group of radio waves transmitted or emitted by any source;
radio silence, deliberate abstention from radio transmission; failure to communicate by radio;
radio-silent a., (
a) maintaining radio silence; (
b)
= radio-quiet adj. above;
radio sounding, the use of radiosondes or radar techniques for investigating the atmosphere, sea bed, or the like; so
radio sounder;
radio spectrum, the radio-frequency part of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation; also, the spectrum of any particular source at these frequencies;
radio star, any discrete source of radio waves outside the solar system (rarely a star in the usual sense);
radio station, a radio-transmitting installation or establishment; a sound broadcasting establishment or organization;
radio telescope Astr., an apparatus or installation for detecting and recording radio waves from the sky with great sensitivity and a high degree of resolution, consisting essentially of a large sensitive directional aerial together with a receiver and recording equipment; (in
quot. 1929, a fictitious apparatus in which a ‘radio contrivance’ is attached to an optical telescope);
radio wave, an electromagnetic wave having a frequency within the range used for telecommunication; (
cf. radio-frequency);
usu. pl.; so
radio wavelength.
| 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 698/2 Radio altimeter. 1953 R. Chisholm Cover of Darkness i. xii. 123 My Mosquito had a radio altimeter, a device which gave absolute readings of height. 1968 Times 15 Nov. 8/6 The radio-altimeter, which made only one measurement of the probe's altitude, must have been wrong. |
| 1916 Lit. Digest (N.Y.) 1 Jan. 13/1 But there will be a lone radio amateur on the alert who has seen the approaching fleet. 1977 N.Z. Herald 5 Jan. i. 1/8 Mr Kilpatrick said radio amateurs—there are almost 4000 in New Zealand—were anxious to have aerial installation defined because of the growing public interest in town planning and the environment. |
| 1918 Flying 14 Aug. 150/3 The radio-compass and wireless log signals will doubtless be pressed into service in the age of commercial aviation. 1946 Happy Landings July 9/1 A severe thunderstorm can be detected by intelligent use of the Radio Compass. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. III. 332/2 The modern radio compass uses a nondirectional antenna in combination with a bidirectional loop antenna to provide a unidirectional bearing indication. |
| 1958 Times 18 Jan. 8/7 It will enable the masters or pilots of vessels coming in and out of Southampton to coordinate their movements with other shipping by direct radio contact with the radio information centre. 1962 V. Grissom in Into Orbit 130, I was in radio contact with..the helicopters which were on their way to pick me up. 1975 T. Allbeury Special Collection v. 34 He had a long radio contact with London and..gave full details. 1976 H. MacInnes Agent in Place xvii. 185 ‘Emil is sleeping on board.’ ‘You've radio contact with him?’ ‘Of course.’ |
| 1934 Webster, Radio dial. 1974 Listener 7 Nov. 593/3 Twiddling his radio dial to hear what is top of the pops. |
| 1922 Sci. & Invention May 10/1 (caption) The radio direction finder aboard this vessel can locate the transmitting station within one half a degree accuracy. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. IV. 232/2 This ground-based radio direction finder, operating at frequencies of 2 to 20 megacycles, is used mainly for navigational assistance in the long-distance en⁓route zone. |
| 1920 Radio Rev. Oct. 644 Radio direction finding..has become a practical possibility owing to the use of powerful amplifiers. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XII. 903/2 Radio direction finding..developed in two ways. First, radio transmitters, or ‘beacons’, were sited..to enable ships or aircraft to fix their positions. Second, ground DF stations that could pick up radio signals sent out by a ship or an aircraft were built. |
| 1960 Aeroplane XCVIII. 366/2 The largest steerable radio ‘dish’ in the World, at Jodrell Bank in England. 1977 Nature 9 June 478/1 Australia leapt into the big league of astronomical nations with the building of the giant 64-metre radio dish at Parkes, New South Wales. |
| 1928 Radio echo [see echo n. 1 d]. 1947 Sci. News V. 36 Radio echoes do not come from the meteors themselves but from the lengthy filament of highly conducting gas which forms their trail or streak. 1975 Nature 30 Oct. 780/2 A radio-echo technique gave the surface velocity relative to a layer that reflected electro⁓magnetic waves—evidently from a level close to the base of the ice. |
| 1946 Proc. IRE XXXIV. 558/2 Presumably, radio energy could..be focused by means of lenses made of a material such as plastic or glass which is transparent at the transmitter frequency. 1955 Sci. Amer. Mar. 36/1 The radio energy given forth by..Cygnus A, startles even astronomers. 1974 F. W. Cole Fund. Astron. Solar Syst. & Beyond xiv. 379/1 Certain peculiar galaxies emit thousands of times more radio energy than does an average galaxy. |
| 1912 Electrician & Mechanic Aug. 140/1 The Institute of Radio-Engineers comprises the bodies formerly known as the Society of Wireless Telegraph Engineers and the Institute of Wireless Engineers. 1937 Discovery Apr. 111/1 Radio engineers have recorded an increasing number of sudden and complete fadings affecting reception on short-wave wireless transmission. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XV. 429/2 Marconi's faith in the successful commercial operation of the system was more than justified, and radio engineers elsewhere were quick to change from skepticism to enthusiasm. |
| 1917 Wireless World Apr. 10 The name ‘wireless system’ in radio engineering seems now to have no scientific meaning. 1942 P. C. Sandretto Princ. Aeronaut. Radio Engin. p.v, It is necessary to explain how I determined the point where ordinary radio engineering ends and aeronautical radio engineering begins. 1975 D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. p. xiii, This new Handbook is the first to be devoted to the field of electronics engineering at large. Earlier important handbooks..treated the field primarily from the point of view of the first important application in the field—radio engineering. |
| 1928 Radio ham [see ham n.1 6]. 1951 H. M. Watson et al. Understanding Radio (ed. 2) xxvi. 642 The exploits of the radio hams in times of disaster..are well known. 1971 Daily Tel. 13 Sept. 1/8 The radio ham..heard two men planning the raid over short-wave radio sets. |
| 1926 Wireless World 18 Aug. 229/1 American business men engaged in the radio industry. 1933 Radio Times 14 Apr. 94 (Advt.), Mullard valves have always taken the radio industry ahead. 1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 22/2 This is not a situation peculiar, for example, to the radio, movie or book industries. |
| 1928–9 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Fall & Winter 245/3 Radio License... The law requires that every radio set be licensed. 1969 Morning Star 9 Aug. 5 Heavier fines for TV and radio licence dodgers have been called for by the Postmaster General. 1975 Times 26 Sept. 15/4 His father was one of the original radio licence holders. 1978 Nature 14 Sept. 91/3 Less than 10% of these [QSOs] are turning out to be ‘radio-loud’. |
| 1921 R. D. Paine Comrades of Rolling Ocean iv. 73 The radio man reports storm signals hoisted all the way from Key West to Norfolk. 1928–9 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Fall & Winter 245/3 Our radio goods..are purchased and inspected by qualified radio men. 1945 M. Lowry Let. 6 June (1967) 46 A great friend of mine who was at college with me—a well-known radioman in Canada. 1977 Time 3 Jan. 35/2 He lied about his age to get into the Navy and served as a radioman in the Pacific during World War II. 1977 New Statesman 2 Sept. 298/1 This is not because Bush has a particularly high quota of veteran radio men. 1978 Pasachoff & Kutner University Astron. viii. 221 (caption) A radio map of the sun made at a wave⁓length of 2·8 cm with the 100-meter dish of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. |
| 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 267 Radio microphone, microphone and small transmitter sending a signal which can be picked up at a distance of up to perhaps several hundred yards. 1978 Broadcast 6 Feb. 12/3 Licences which authorize..mobile radiotelephone, radiomicrophones, radiopaging devices. 1980 J. Ball Then came Violence (1981) xvi. 144 He picked up the radio microphone. |
| 1974 Listener 14 Mar. 330/3 Rix..had me fitted with a radio mike, which is..a small and highly sensitive transmitter, enabling me to record impressions unobtrusively. |
| 1931 B. Jones Avigation xv. 274 (heading) Radio navigation. 1951 Sci. News XXII. 110 Positions were fixed by radio navigation. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XII. 908/2 Loran..is a radio-navigation system that permits a ship to locate its position accurately by timing the arrival of pulses from synchronized shore transmitters. |
| 1921 Brit. Pat. 161,448 (title) Improvements in or relating to radio-navigational systems. 1958 Times 18 Aug. 8/3 The Nantucket field had no instrument landing system, no high intensity approach lights, and only a minimum of radio navigational aids. 1978 R. V. Jones Most Secret War xxiv. 210 The drive at last started for us to emulate the Germans in their radio navigational techniques. |
| 1941 Sun (Baltimore) 15 Oct. 5/5 The Twenty-ninth Division has its full complement of radio nets, and is maintaining its communications of this nature with considerable success. 1976 C. Egleton State Visit ix. 84 A re-broadcast system had been installed which allowed them to monitor the police radio net. |
| 1935 C. G. Burge Compl. Bk. Aviation 503/1 Air transport is essentially international in character, and the organization and control of the radio networks, if they are to benefit air transport, must also be applied on an international basis. 1966 N. Wymer From Marconi to Telstar viii. 85 Since the war all the great nations have steadily expanded their overseas services until today the radio network covers the entire world. 1972 J. Mosedale Football iv. 52 New York..is the communications capital of the world—home to national magazines and the television and radio networks. |
| 1968 Radio pager [see pager n.3]. |
| 1960 Radio paging [see page v.1 c]. 1978 Times 3 Nov. 27/4 The Post Office itself has listed the main telecommunications services..envisaged for the years 1985 and 2000... By 1985 there will be..radiopaging, confravision (conference television), viewphone. |
| 1925 Scribner's Mag. Sept. 80 (Advt.), Model 50 Radio-Phonograph Combination. Price $325. 1952 Auden Nones 18 According to the gospel Of the radio-phonograph. 1979 T. Gifford Hollywood Gothic (1980) xxi. 216 An ancient Philco radio-phonograph. |
| 1957 Nature 4 May 898/1 This ‘radio pill’, as it is termed, was designed by Dr. V. K. Zworykin and developed by engineers of the Radio Corporation of America at Camden, New Jersey. 1962 New Scientist 10 May 288/3 A radio pill contains an electronic circuit that generates a radio frequency signal. 1970 Sci. Jrnl. June 84/1 Pressure changes within the vagina and uterus have also been measured, by using a tiny device known as the radio-pill. |
| 1933 Radio pirate [see pirate n. 4 b]. 1964 Daily Tel. 11 May 20 (heading) Radio ‘pirates’ problem for Cabinet. 1965 Astrophysical Jrnl. CXLI 1560 Members of the class called here quasi-stellar galaxies..resemble the quasi-stellar radio sources..in many optical properties, but they are radio-quiet. 1977 Sci. Amer. Aug. 38/3 Many quasars have no detectable radio emissions. In fact, the great majority of quasars may be radio quiet. |
| 1971 D. W. Sciama Mod. Cosmol. v. 73 It must be emphasised that the radio-quietness of these new objects is only relative. |
| 1949 Sun (Baltimore) 26 July 18/3 The wing tip ‘radomes’, as the compact radio-radar installation is called, were developed for the Air Force. 1966 M. Woodhouse Tree Frog viii. 62 A radio-radar control system with a range of seven hundred miles. 1976 G. H. Morrison in L.-H. Lee Characterization of Metal & Polymer Surfaces I. 362 Our laboratory has been involved in an examination of steel strands in the cables suspending a 525-ton feed platform in the world's largest radio-radar telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. |
| 1926 Physical Rev. XXVII. 202 The ionic term will be negligibly small compared to the electronic term, except for very long waves outside of the usual radio range. 1929 Proc. IRE XVII. 2147 The so-called ‘aural’ type of directive radiobeacon, or ‘radio range’ as it is now called, was finally considered to be most applicable to the Airways Service. 1942 P. C. Sandretto Princ. Aeronaut. Radio Engin. i. 7 By the late fall of 1929, there was installed in the United States a line of radio ranges extending from New Jersey to Iowa. 1949 Nature 12 Nov. 816/2 The radio range from about 1 cm. to 20 m. 1951 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. IV. 291/1 The Radio Range, a long-range navigational aid..transmits the letters A..and N..in Morse code simultaneously in different directions. If the pilot is flying directly on his proper course, he will be mid⁓way between the paths of the two signals. 1960 Rodman & Varsavsky tr. I. S. Shklovsky's Cosmic Radio Waves ii. 84 Thus if the sun appears to be the dominating source of radiation at optical frequencies, in the radio range it plays a much more modest role. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XI. 255/2 Consol... This radio range navigation aid provides a number of characteristic signal zones that rotate in a time sequence. |
| 1946 R. E. Higginbotham Wine for my Brothers v. 97 He paused a moment before the door of the radio shack. 1973 D. Kyle Raft of Swords (1974) xiv. 152 Bill Harrison was sitting in his radio shack at Bella Bella. 1976 ‘M. Nelson’ Crusoe Test iii. 42 He had veered off into the captain's room..taken the radio shack key... He had only needed seconds in the radio room. |
| 1922 Moving Picture Stories 4 Aug. 22/2 When the Women's Radio League of America some months ago asked me to join them and appear at their exhibition at a radio show, I thought it a unique invitation. 1932 Radio Times 29 July 239/2 Peter Creswell will produce Ball and Dance, a German radio show built up from scenes at famous balls of history. 1940 G. Marx Let. 10 Oct. (1967) 26 I'm..discussing a radio show that I might do... A kind of human interest story with a slightly wacky father, who, of course, would be me. 1971 D. Nathan Laughtermakers ii. 50 When the series was over Milligan went to Australia, where he did thirteen radio shows similar to the Goons. 1976 B. Took Laughter in Air i. 11 Theatre magnates still held the whip hand, making offers they couldn't refuse to Arthur Askey and Jack Warner for stage versions of their hit radio shows. |
| 1923 E. W. Marchant Radio Telegr. ix. 100 The problem of finding the direction from which a radio signal is coming has been referred to already, and its practical importance..is obvious. 1937 Discovery Jan. 3/2 Radio signals can travel round the world and not be lost in space as would be the case if the ionosphere did not exist. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics iii. 46 The planet [sc. Mercury] emits natural radio signals. 1969 Times 16 Jan. 4/7 Measurements of the radio signals from sulphur hydride may be a valuable check of estimates of the amount of sulphur in interstellar space. 1974 L. Deighton Spy Story xix. 208 That radio signal obliges us to continue with the pick-up. |
| 1946 Radio silence [see radiolocator]. 1959 R. Collier City that wouldn't Die vii. 106 [He] exultantly broke radio⁓silence: ‘I've got two dirty great Huns in my sights!’ 1970 A. Dekker Divers Diamonds ii. 15 Toledo [sc. a submarine] has subsequently maintained total radio silence and has gone without trace. 1977 Observer 3 Apr. 1/6 The control tower said sharply, ‘Radio silence please, I will continue to call up KLM.’ 1978 Peace News 25 Aug. 8/2 This ‘strike’ lasted some three days, and rumour had it that GCHQ feared that the Russians were maintaining ‘radio silence’, the traditional prelude to offensive action! |
| 1976 B. Lecomber Dead Weight xiii. 154 Filing incomplete flight plans and going radio-silent for long periods is bloody silly. 1977 Sci. Amer. Aug. 38/3 Only later, when the sky was searched at optical wavelengths for bright blue and ultraviolet objects, were the radio-silent quasars discovered. |
| 1931 Flight XXIII. 278/1 The trials proceeding in America with a radio-sounder have been successful and appear to promise good results. 1969 Times 20 Jan. 8/1 Alouette 1, the first of a series of satellites built in Canada..is equipped with a radio sounder which probes the atmosphere beneath the satellite. |
| 1929 Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. X. 220 The radio sounding balloons to be released from the Graf Zeppelin will employ a radio sending device developed under the direction of P. A. Moltchanoff. 1936 Meteorol. Mag. LXXI. 5 (heading) Radio-sounding of the atmosphere. 1958 Miller & Parry Everyday Meteorol. i. 29 The radio-sounding balloon..has the advantage that it need not be visible. 1963 Times 31 May 16/2 A form of radio sounding, similar to radar, may provide a new means of charting the depth of rock surfaces covered by snow and ice, as in Greenland and Antarctica. |
| 1929 Bell System Techn. Jrnl. VIII. 313 Fortunately this frequency was so located in the radio spectrum that a band of the desired width..could be obtained. 1932 Proc. IRE XX. 96 Ultra-short waves in point-to-point propagation resemble light waves rather than the longer and more conventional waves of the radio spectrum. 1964 R. H. Baker Astron. (ed. 8) iv. 116 The only known emission line in the radio spectrum was first observed..in 1951. 1978 Nature 8 June 431/2 Samples of QSOs with flat radio spectra were chosen. |
| 1949 Sci. Amer. Sept. 38/1 The small spots are tiny enough to be considered ‘radio stars’. 1957 New Scientist 27 June 32/1 Ryle concludes that his weak radio stars are evidence of more crowded days when the universe was young. 1963 Times 20 Apr. 8/4 The first true radio stars—stars (in the ordinary sense) that emit radio waves at sufficient intensity to be detected and identified by radio telescopes—have been discovered by Sir Bernard Lovell. 1969 Times 18 Apr. 12/5 Pulsars, the radio stars whose clock-like regularity has so far eluded explanation. |
| 1912 Statutes U.S.A. XXXVII. i. 303 Every Government station on land or sea shall have special call letters designated and published in the list of radio stations of the United States. 1934 Joyce Let. 20 Nov. (1966) III. 328 You don't say what those radio stations pay. 1968 A. Diment Bang Bang Birds iii. 41 One of the local radio stations gave me the news. 1977 C. McCullough Thorn Birds xv. 340 Progress had finally come to Gillanbone in the shape of an Australian Broadcasting Commission radio station. |
| 1929 Amazing Stories June 202/1 Well, what do you think of it?.. How do you like my radio-telescope? 1948 Newsweek 18 Nov. 98/2 The newer radio telescope..is designed to gather radio static in the microwave region. 1953 N.Y. Times 19 Apr. e9/5 The foundations of Britain's million-dollar radio telescope..are now being built at Jodrell Bank, Cheshire. 1969 Times 25 Mar. 12/6 The experiment was carried out with the giant radio telescope carved out of a natural bowl in the hills of Puerto Rico. 1976 L. Deighton Twinkle, twinkle, Little Spy xxiii. 229 Two huge radio telescopes, the dishes about sixty feet across. |
| 1916 Electr. Experimenter IV. 486/3 If the radio waves were powerful enough to travel from Mars to the moon, they..could travel from the moon to Mars. 1946 Nature 3 Aug. 150/1 As radio-waves are reflected by obstacles of any kind, they can be used in darkness as well as daylight, in thick fog or other obscuring atmospheric conditions, as light to show whether the way is open or not. 1969 G. Lyall Venus with Pistol xxxiii. 212 The dark air between us slowly started to hum like radio waves. 1977 Times 20 June 5/2 Through vibrations, the radio wave can transmit conversation and noise back from the room it is aimed at. |
| 1937 Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. XXIII. 178 The low opacity in the radio wave⁓lengths, arising from the small relative size of the particles, will selectively permit the escape of these longer wave⁓lengths. 1972 Sci. Amer. Aug. 51/3 Neutral atomic hydrogen emits and absorbs radiation at the radio wavelength of 21 centimeters and can be readily observed by radio telescopes. |
▪ II. radio, v. (
ˈreɪdɪəʊ)
[f. the n.] a. trans. To transmit or send (a message or information) by radio.
b. intr. To send a message, etc., by radio; to give information or make a request by radio (with dependent clause). (In both senses
freq. with advbs.)
| 1919 Pop. Sci. Monthly Sept. 116/2 He radios the information to the ship. 1926 H. T. Wilkins Marvels Mod. Mech. 213 As soon as the observer spots a shoal of fish, he marks a square on the chart,..and at once radios to the port. 1926 Glasgow Herald 20 Dec. 9 The British ship Defender has radioed that it has saved two members of the crew of the schooner Lincoln. 1937 G. Frankau More of Us xiii. 136 Let Pink flay Anti-Pink, or vice versa, ‘Delicious weather’, radio'd still our purser. 1958 Industr. & Engin. Chem. Mar. 22a/2 Explorer has radioed back information that the temperature inside is between 20° and 50°C., tolerable enough for a human passenger. 1958 ‘Castle’ & ‘Hailey’ Flight into Danger ii. 29 Let me know if she gets any worse and I'll radio ahead. 1969 New Yorker 12 Apr. 68/2 A satellite..radioed information about the fields of low-energy particles far above the earth. 1970 Daily Tel. 14 Oct. 1/3 The lifeboat later radioed back that the dead man and the others were being taken by the trawler to Boulogne. 1972 Oxford Times 25 Feb. 1/8 Our beat policemen radio through if congestion is building up anywhere. 1973 J. Rossiter Manipulators xxvi. 244 He had to get away before Jackson found Bradley's body and radio'd back. 1977 Daily Tel. 18 Mar. 1/7 The police radioed for assistance and a detachment of Irish troops arrived. 1978 J. Irving World according to Garp xv. 313 Go radio our position. |
Hence
ˈradioed ppl. a., transmitted or reported by radio.
| 1943 J. Flanner in New Yorker 29 May 42/3 A radioed appeal from General de Gaulle in London. 1953 A. Huxley Let. 9 Aug. (1969) 682 Robots responsive to the radioed will of their masters. 1973 ‘A. Hall’ Tango Briefing xii. 149 London wanted photographs and a full radioed report of the freighter's cargo. 1977 ‘W. Wingate’ Fireplay i. 12 Doneska could have foundered anywhere from her last radioed position off Los Angeles to close by Valparaiso. |