speaking tube
1
7.9
- noun
- /ˈspiːkɪŋ tuːb/
- Archaic
:
tubo de voz
Examples
-
It has a speaking tube running under the ground to the main house.
-
He picked up the speaking tube.
Fiction book (1997) -
Prominently located on the set are the speaking tube and servant's bell for the count to call and command his servants.
Academic text (1999) -
The old mansion still had a speaking tube connecting the library and the study, allowing conversations without leaving the rooms.
-
In the historical play, the characters communicated through a speaking tube to send messages between distant parts of the house.
-
Before telephones, families often used a speaking tube to talk from the kitchen to the dining room.
How Loud
4
3.3
41
2.2
23
3.6
- Archaic
- Archaic
1
7.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from 'speaking' (relating to voice) + 'tube' (a hollow cylinder): a tube for carrying a person's voice between rooms. This is a literal adjective+noun composition following common cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words should be able to infer the meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
The noun speaking tube comes from a simple device: a long hollow tube you put your mouth to so your speaking voice could reach another room. People used these before 'phones' or 'intercoms', so the name means a real tube that carried a person's voice from one place to another.