handset
(ˈhændsɛt)
Also hand-set.
[hand n. + set n.2]
A telephone transmitter and receiver combined in a single instrument.
| [1914 Smith & Campbell Automatic Teleph. vi. 131 The telephone instrument follows the general form which is so popular on the Continent, making large use of the combined transmitter and receiver, sometimes known as the hand microphone set.] 1930 Electr. Commun. VIII. 265/2 The tendency towards more comfortable and convenient apparatus has been evidenced..finally by the development of handsets, or as they are sometimes called, ‘micro-telephones’. 1955 ‘N. Shute’ Requiem for Wren 283 They repeated it and booked the call, and I put down the handset. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 176 For telephones a standard hand-set can be similarly adapted, so that the bell may be worked by a press-button. 1972 C. Drummond Death at Bar v. 127 There was a call box... He had to wait ten minutes while a young citizen..quacked into the handset. |