α. 1900s– *69, 1900s– star 69.
β. 1900s– star sixty-nine.
γ. 1900s– star six nine.
star 69n.
/ˌstɑː sɪkstɪˈnʌɪn/, /ˌstɑː sɪksˈnʌɪn/, U.S. /ˌstɑr ˌsɪkstiˈnaɪn/, /ˌstɑr ˌsɪksˈnaɪn/ U.S. Telecommunications.
A call return service which automatically dials the number from which the last incoming call was made, activated by pressing the ‘star’ (*), 6, and 9 buttons. Cf. 1471 n.Chiefly with reference to landline phones.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > telephone services > in United States
4111931
freephone1984
star 691990
1984 Orlando Sentinel 11 Nov. b7 (advt.) Call Return... Discover the call you just missed. Dial *69..to automatically dial the last person to have called you.]
1990 RBOC Special Services in comp.dcom.telecom (Usenet newsgroup) 14 Nov. I've seen a few messages recently suggesting that there are interesting services (*60, *69, *72, I think)..which I would like.
1998 D. Lyons Dog Days viii. 40 I used star-sixty-nine to dial the number of the last person who'd called me..and..got Jeanie's machine.
2000 Tampa (Florida) Tribune (Nexis) 30 Jan. 1 I discovered star-six-nine is also a convenient tool for..meting out modern etiquette justice.
2011 Tulsa (Oklahoma) World (Nexis) 13 Sept. d1 Caller ID and star-69 make pulling off the joke problematic.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
star 69v.
/ˌstɑː sɪkstɪˈnʌɪn/, /ˌstɑː sɪksˈnʌɪn/, U.S. /ˌstɑr ˌsɪkstiˈnaɪn/, /ˌstɑr ˌsɪksˈnaɪn/ U.S.
transitive. To use the star 69 telephone service to call (a person or a person's number). Also intransitive.Chiefly with reference to landline phones.
ΚΠ
1990 Re: Return*Call Humor in comp.dcom.telecom (Usenet newsgroup) 29 Nov. If you *69 the sucker, it goes back to the caller, not the forwarder.
1996 Los Angeles Times (Electronic ed.) 22 Dec. 3 You've been star-69ed. The person on the other end of the line is using call return.
2001 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 1 Oct. e1/1 I had a hang-up call on my machine, so I star-sixty-nined.
2010 T. K. Walker Friendship, Chaos & Betrayal 29 I tried to star 69 them, but I couldn't star 69 the private number.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1990v.1990