From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe telephonethe telephoneTCTTELEPHONEthe system of communication that you use to have a conversation with someone in another place SYN phoneby telephone Reservations can be made by telephone.on the telephone I’ve never met him, but I’ve spoken to him on the telephone.over the telephone I read the names out to him over the telephone.down the telephone British English He shouted at me down the telephone.RegisterIn everyday English, people usually say phone rather than telephone:She’s been on the phone all evening. → telephone
Examples from the Corpus
down the telephone• The days when he could demand the detail of everything he owned, barking down the telephone, have faded.• I may have cried down the telephone, but Mme Dragon wouldn't unbend.• She hunted down the telephone number through directory enquiries and then rang.• The latest news down the telephone line is that Madonna has just bought one.• Melissa murmured some banal phrases of encouragement and put down the telephone with a feeling of desolation.• Ron had just put down the telephone.• He wanted to rage and swear, to shout down the telephone and fire off angry memoranda.• It is a question of personality, or more precisely how this is projected in the voice down the telephone wires. 