walkie-talkie
(ˌwɔːkɪˈtɔːkɪ)
Also walky-talky.
[f. walk v.1 + talk v. + -ie.]
1. A small radio transmitter and receiver that can be carried on the person to provide two-way communication as one walks.
| 1939 Sun (Baltimore) 4 Oct. 24/3 ‘Walkie-talkie’ is the Army Signal Corps' way of speaking of unit S.C.R. 195—a recently developed radio sending and receiving set so small it is carried on the back and one talks while one walks. 1944 Life 3 July 12/1 Above the noise of hundreds of bombs..his voice barked through the walkie-talkie. 1945 China at War May 38/2 Walkie-talkie sets also are used. 1955 G. Band Road to Rakaposhi xvi. 178 If we had taken portable ‘walky-talky’ sets there would have been no problem. 1970 Timber Traders Jrnl. 21 Mar. 53/3 Senior members of the yard staff have walkie-talkie radio sets with which they maintain communication with the sideloader operators. 1973 C. Bonington Next Horizon xii. 175 We talked over the problem, on the walky-talky. 1979 Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. a 12/1 Secret Service agents with walkie-talkies paced the auditorium's mezzanine and surrounding grounds. |
2. A doll that can be made to walk and talk. Freq. attrib. or as adj.
| 1952 Landfall VI. 82 Everything he does simply runs true to type like the tricks of a walkie-talkie doll. 1957 J. Frame Owls do Cry ii. xxviii. 137, I shall buy her..a sleeping doll, a walkie-talkie that cries and walks. 1958 N. Marsh Singing in Shrouds (1959) vi. 107 Las Palmas is known to tourists for its walkie-talkie dolls. 1961 J. Wayne Day Ceiling fell Down vii. 72, I thought it was a proper big doll you'd lost... Like one of them walkie-talkies. |