Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - telephone

 I. noun  Usage: often attributive  Date: 1844 an instrument for reproducing sounds at a distance; specifically one in which sound is converted into electrical impulses for transmission (as by wire)  II. verb  (-phoned; -phoning)  Date: 1877  transitive verb  1. to speak to or attempt to reach by ~  2. to send by ~  intransitive verb to communicate by ~  • ~r noun