noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The spring-loaded button on a telephone that is depressed by the action of returning the handset to the cradle, thus terminating the call.

   "At 4 or 5, he learned to dial by using the hookswitch like a telegraph key."

Synonyms

All synonyms

switchhookswitchhook

Example

More examples

"At 4 or 5, he learned to dial by using the hookswitch like a telegraph key."

Etymology

From hook + switch.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.