answerphone en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈæn.sɜː(ɹ)ˌfəʊn/ (UK)
- /ˈæn.səˌfəʊn/ (UK)
Etymology
From answer + (tele)phone.
Meanings
-
(Commonwealth, Ireland, UK) Synonym of answering machine, especially one built into a telephone.
That was the bloody answerphone. She must have left already.
1999 February 3, Anthony Horowitz et al., “Strangler's Wood”, in Midsomer Murders:It started with a message in my office on that fiendish modern invention, second in its monstrousness only to the television, the answerphone.
2012, Theodore Dalrymple, If Symptoms Persist:I keep trying to call her, but all I get is the answerphone.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| answer phone | alternative | lexicographic | |
| ansafone | alternative | lexicographic | |
| answerphones | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| ansaphone | alternative | lexicographic |