entryphone
- noun
- /ˈɛntriˌfoʊn/
- UK
- The entryphone allows residents to talk to guests before granting them access.
Examples
-
Before letting the delivery person in, she spoke to him through the entryphone.
-
I buzzed him in through the entryphone after confirming his identity.
-
The entryphone crackled, but no one spoke.
Fiction book (1994) -
(ENTRYPHONE RINGS)
Synonyms
A device at a building entrance that lets people inside talk to visitors outside before opening the door
A system that lets a person at the door talk to a person inside
How Secure
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Entryphone is made of entry (a 'way in') and phone, short for telephone ('sound over distance'), so it literally means a 'sound device at the entrance'. So, an entryphone lets people speak at the building door before someone lets them in.