rotary phone

Definition

A telephone with a circular dial containing finger holes for each digit (0-9); users dialed by inserting their finger in the appropriate hole and rotating clockwise until it stopped, releasing to send each digit. Rotary phones dominated from the 1950s through the 1980s.

Example Usage

My grandmother still has a rotary phone on her kitchen wall from 1962.

Origin

Invented in the 1890s as an improvement over operator-connected systems; standardized and mass-produced throughout the 20th century.

Fun Fact

Dialing a number with many 9s and 0s was tedious—the dial had to complete a full rotation for each digit, making it impossible to rush the process.

Source: Definition backfill (hailey)

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