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Glite Dictionary
telegraph key

telegraph key

1 7.7
A small lever device used to send messages as dots and dashes by making and breaking an electric circuit
  • noun
  • /ˈtɛlɪˌɡræf ki/
  • Archaic
translation icon : clave de telégrafo
  • I tapped out a series of CQs with my telegraph key.

Examples

  • I carefully adjusted the telegraph key to ensure clear communication on the line.

  • Maybe with this telegraph key and a morse code setup.

    Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)

  • Hear those telegraph keys?

    The Human Comedy (1943)

  • Using a filled production technique (Bindra & Waksberg, 1956), each subject estimated a period of 11 seconds by depressing a telegraph key and, after the estimated interval, releasing it.

    Academic text (1992)

  • The technician used the telegraph key to send a message across the network.

  • With a quick press of the telegraph key, he transmitted the urgent signal.

Synonyms

key
vstelegraph key
140 1.0

A button on a keyboard or instrument that you press

is used specifically to send signals by opening and closing an electric circuit

Surface Forms

telegraph key singular
telegraph keys plural

Morphology

telegraph + key

The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'telegraph' (the telegraph system/device) with 'key' (a pressable lever), so a learner who knows both words can infer it is the lever used to operate a telegraph. This fits a common noun-noun composition pattern found across languages, making the concept immediately comprehensible to B1 learners who know the constituents.

Etymology

Telegraph key comes from the first telegraph machines, where a small lever called the key was tapped to make short and long signals along a wire to 'send' messages. So the name links the telegraph system and the lever, and today it means the small device used to 'send' telegraph signals.