televisionn.
/ˈtɛlᵻˌvɪʒn/, /ˌtɛlᵻˈvɪʒn/, U.S. /ˈtɛləˌvɪʒən/ 1.
a. A system used for transmitting and viewing images and (typically) sound; the action of transmitting and viewing images using such a system (now rare). In later use: esp. such a system used for the organized broadcast of professionally produced shows and programmes. In quots. 19001, 19002 denoting a proposed or hypothetical system of this type.John Logie Baird (1888–1946) is often credited with producing the first live television image (cf. quot. 1926), having built on the work of Arthur Korn (1870–1945) and Paul Gottlieb Nipkow (1860–1940) to develop one of the earliest television systems in 1925 (originally named the televisor: see televisor n. 1).Television images were originally in black and white; colour television broadcasting became widespread during the late 1960s and early 1970s.In addition to the system of general transmission by means of radio waves, the term also includes more restricted systems, such as cable television, satellite television, etc. See also closed circuit n. at closed adj. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun]
television1900
telly1930
tele1936
small screen1944
TV1945
teevee1948
1900 Cent. Mag. June Through television and telephone we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face.
1900 Electrician 31 Sept. 822/2 At the afternoon sitting on Friday, M. C. Perskyi read a communication on ‘Television’, describing a number of apparatus based on the magnetic properties of selenium.
1926 Glasgow Herald 20 Dec. 11/8 Mr. John L. Baird, a native of Helensburgh,..recently invented an apparatus which makes television possible.
1930 J. Buckingham Matter & Radiation 122 We have heard so much about Television lately that we are apt to forget that no portion of the apparatus used is novel to scientists.
1948 N. Wiener Cybernetics 10 Television was destined to be more useful to engineering by the introduction of such new techniques than as an independent industry.
1957 Technology Mar. 9/2 The solution of the major problems in colour television, the public introduction of which is now more a question of economics than of technical difficulty.
1970 Toronto Daily Star 24 Sept. 28/1 (advt.) You can receive Channel 19 by..cable television.
2008 P. Parsons Blue Skies i. 32 Part of Bell's response was simply to abandon or modify some of its plans for television.
b. The activity or occupation of broadcasting or transmitting on television; the television system or service as a whole; television as a medium of communication or as a form of art or entertainment.Also (with capital initial) in the names of particular television broadcasting services or companies.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > organized television broadcasting
television1927
television industry1928
TV industry1946
television land1950
TV land1952
1927 Punch 2 Feb. 116/1 It is interesting to observe that in spite of artificial sunlight, television, winter sports and the heebie-jeebie there are still some stalwarts who stand by the old traditional amusements of the English people.
1930 N. Coward Private Lives ii. 49 Aeroplanes..and Cosmic Atoms, and Television.
1935 Radio Today Nov. 19/2 (heading) BBC television ready March 1.
1951 N.Y. Herald-Tribune 12 Dec. 27/3 Buster is an old playmate and I'm glad to see he..crashed television successfully.
1962 Friend 1 June 665/1 I have sometimes thought how different life might have been at Haworth if only they had had the television, and Tide, and a Morris Minor.
1965 Variety 13 Oct. 52 (advt.) The ‘happening place’ in New York television, WPIX TV/11.
1977 Times 2 Sept. 7/3 Television, the art..that speaks daily to almost everybody.
1996 SFX May 6/3 The cavalry appeared in the form of Fox Television's Trevor Walton.
2004 M. Keyes Other Side of Story (2005) 223 He and Mikey had had enough of making dull infomercials on safety in the workplace and wanted to move into television.
c. That which is broadcast or transmitted by television; the content of television programmes.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > as medium
television1931
video1939
small screen1944
1931 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 2 May 3/4 The first marriage ceremony to be ‘televised’... ‘The ceremony is television, but in every other way the wedding is absolutely regular.’ Those who have television sets in their homes reported that the broadcast ‘filmed well’ and that the voices ‘came over perfectly’.
1938 Times 24 Dec. 12/1 Long feature films were never likely to make good television. You need to go to the theatre for them.
1957 Observer 27 Oct. 17/4 It proved, as discussions on these emotive imponderabilia always do, highly absorbing television.
1982 Sunday Tel. 3 Jan. 16/7 Attenborough's ‘Life on Earth’ was perfect television.
2006 M. L. Clifford Shalamar Code iv. 22 She would have no company but servants and an evening of television.
2. A device designed for displaying television broadcasts and audio-visual recordings, typically consisting of a display screen, an aerial or other means of receiving television signals, and a means of tuning into different broadcast channels; a television set.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > transmitting or receiving apparatus > [noun] > television set
television set1924
television1929
home video1949
TV1949
box1950
transistor set1953
telly1954
idiot box1955
monitor1957
boob tube1959
goggle-box1959
transportable1959
the tube1959
portable1960
set1961
widescreen1982
1929 Washington Post 2 Mar. 8/8 The old human emotions are still with us, even if we have telephotos, radios and televisions.
1952 Jet 17 Apr. 29 He's been driving me crazy with this device. I can't hear my television and radio.
1973 D. Francis Slay-ride viii. 96 Behind me on a wide shelf stood my portable television.
1982 Sunday Sun-Times (Chicago) 3 Oct. 72/1 Industry workers last year averaged $75 a month. They buy televisions and send money home to wives.
2014 Radio Times 23 Aug. (South/West ed.) 20/1 She didn't own a television so would watch the show at friends' houses.
Phrases
on (the) television: broadcast or transmitted by television; appearing in a television programme.
ΚΠ
1929 N.Y. Herald Tribune 28 Jan. 21/2 He would have to leave it to the honor of the watchers not to smoke while the bouts were on the television.
1938 Observer 26 June 12/6 I reviewed this film three weeks ago when I saw it on television.
1965 M. Drabble Millstone 194 You could get a job on the television.
1980 Private Eye 26 Sept. 13/1 That ghastly woman with the teeth who's always on the television.
2009 D. O'Briain Tickling Eng. vi. 79 One in five people had found out about food intolerances from a celebrity interview in a magazine or on television.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.Many of the more established compounds of this type are treated separately. For compounds denoting people involved in television broadcasting, see Compounds 2a; for compounds denoting material broadcast on television, see Compounds 2b.
ΚΠ
1900 Engineering 31 Aug. 276/3 The very complicated television apparatus which C. Perskyi explained with the help of slides are based upon the peculiarities of selenium cells.
1931 Times 29 Dec. 5/5 At first it was expected that television dealers would be able to use such morning transmissions for the demonstration of sets to prospective purchasers.
1949 Pop. Sci. Monthly June 221/2 Relatively inexpensive television components.
1954 World Today 10 20 He arranged to export television valves to Britain.
1966 B.B.C. Handbk. 33 There are in the London area six..production studios.., a television theatre, two news studios, and two remote control studios.
2000 R. W. Burns J. L. Baird: Television Pioneer ix. 196 The Zeiss Company would contribute the television parts.
2006 Independent 27 Feb. 42/3 In the past, people would call a television repairman to fix the telly when it went on the blink.
b.
television aerial n.
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1931 N.Y. Times 19 July ix. 13/4 The Empire State Building has been selected as the site for a television aerial and station.
2006 H. Glassie Stars of Ballymenone x. 189 Television aerials pricked above the chimneys.
television age n.
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1928 Clay-worker Oct. 280 The steam age, the steel age, the automobile age, the aeroplane age, the radio age and the television age press upon each other for recognition.
2014 T. Engelhardt Shadow Govt. vii. 109 A man living at the beginning of the television age who sensed how a whole society could be viewed, tracked, controlled, and surveilled.
television antenna n.
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1931 N.Y. Herald Tribune 21 June iv. 5/9 One find-all shielded television antenna.
2012 Prince George (Brit. Columbia) Citizen (Nexis) 14 Jan. 6 Within months an array of television antennas..reached toward the heavens and criss-crossed our town.
television audience n.
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1926 Boston Daily Globe 21 Dec. 16/4 Ladies and gentlemen of the green unseen television audience, you are now looking at pictures direct from the Chinese war.
2003 S. Brown Free Gift Inside! 182 He was attracting huge television audiences.
television box n.
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1930 Dover Express 10 Jan. 8/4 Prehistoric men and enormous animals mingling gaily with super sky-scrapers and public television boxes of the future.
2014 J. Cantor Searching for Sky xxix. 189 The sounds of the television box fade.
television broadcast n.
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1926 Scotsman 27 Jan. 11/6 Television broadcast will be commenced..as soon as the apparatus can be set up.
1934 Times of India 21 May 8/6 In November '32 the B.B.C. television broadcast to Denmark proved remarkably successful.
2010 Wall St. Jrnl. 16 Mar. a18/4 Opposition politicians denounced Georgia's government over a hoax television broadcast that said Russia had invaded.
television broadcaster n.
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1927 Pop. Radio May 447 (heading) The world's first ‘television broadcaster’.
2013 T. Evans et al. Econ. Television Sports Rights 223 Sports organisations and television broadcasters have built a synergetic relationship.
television broadcasting n.
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1926 N.Y. Herald Tribune 27 Jan. 2/6 John Baird..has received a license from the postmaster general for a television broadcasting station.
1977 Home Office: Rep. Comm. Future of Broadcasting ii. 10 in Parl. Papers 1976–7 (Cmnd. 6753) VI. 1 All sound and television broadcasting which uses radio waves for transmission is in the charge of two public Authorities, the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Independent Broadcasting Authority.
2012 R. E. Hull Backstage viii. 61 My dream was to live in California and make it in television broadcasting in Los Angeles.
television channel n.
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1928 Christian Sci. Monitor 8 May 18/1 (heading) Television channels big problem in short waves.
2011 Z. Strachan Ever fallen in Love 222 Loren might be alone in her B&B bedroom,..flicking through the television channels and finding nothing to watch.
television company n.
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1927 Times of India 6 Apr. 9/3 The registration of the Baird Television Company, Limited.
2007 Independent 8 May (Extra section) 22/1 A television company's drama budget would not have been blown on something so unutterably flimsy.
television coverage n.
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1935 N.Y. Times 2 Feb. (Late City ed.) 15/8 If we had all the population of the United States scattered from Montauk Point to the Niagara frontier it would not be so difficult to give New York State television coverage.
2014 Illawarra (Austral.) Mercury (Nexis) 20 June (TV guide) 4 Wall-to-wall, endless television coverage of the tournament.
television frequency n.
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1928 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 26 June 24/6 General Electric and Radio Corporation..asking for television frequencies in addition to broadcast and relay.
2011 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 5 Mar. The payoff to the government was reaping the return selling on television frequencies for new video mobile phone technologies.
television lounge n.
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1936 Times 24 Nov. 7/5 (advt.) Hamptons Television Lounge, Pall Mall East, London.
2008 M. Hastings I lost My Love in Baghdad xxiv. 245 Karen and I wait for our flight in the television lounge at the Kuwait passenger terminal.
television mast n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > transmitting or receiving apparatus > [noun] > aerial
television mast1931
rabbit ears1952
1931 Boys' Life May 30/3 It is possible that the television masts will go aloft from the 65-story skyscraper.
2012 J. Sundholm et al. Hist. Dict. Scand. Cinema 415 When the film was shown on Swedish public television, the television masts on the neighboring Finnish islands of Åland were shut down.
television monitor n.
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1939 Du Mont Oscillographer Apr. 3/2 This sweep voltage output may be used also as a master source for driving iconoscope scanning systems, television monitors, etc.
2004 Dive Sept. 77/1 The video mafia played back..their images of their dive experience on a television monitor.
television receiver n.
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1912 Jrnl. Röntgen Soc. 8 8/1 Imagine, then, that for our television receiver we have a black surface entirely covered by very minute electric lamps.
2006 T. L. McPhail Global Communication (ed. 2) vi. 164 The current financing of the BBC involves an annual license fee levied on all radio and television receivers.
television reception n.
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1927 Decatur (Illinois) Herald 10 Apr. 26/4 Television reception..requires a dark room the same as motion pictures.
2007 M. Mullen in S. Banet-Weiser et al. Cable Visions i. 27 Television reception quickly became a draw for visitors and patrons.
television room n.
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1928 World's Best Boys' Ann. (caption to frontispiece) In the television room they waited.
2004 T. L. Lee & C. M. Anthony Gotham Diaries 210 She would stay in the television room,..spacing out before Lifetime movies and music videos.
television screen n.
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1909 Penny Illustr. Paper 18 Dec. 413 (caption) By the means of the latest invention, the television screen, anyone speaking over the telephone can see the person with whom they are conversing.
1927 Pictorial Weekly 5 Mar. 100/1 These sets will combine a Television screen and loud-speaker.
2004 B. Greene Fabric of Cosmos xvi. 473 Think of the pixelated image you see when your face is a few inches from a television screen.
television service n.
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1910 Industr. World 31 Jan. p. ix/1 Anybody desiring to avail himself of television service would go to one of them [sc. television exchanges] just as he now goes to a telegraph office when he wants to hand in a dispatch.
2002 L. Purves Radio (2003) ii. 29 The television service..rushes to meet the most thoughtless, rootless popular taste with gimmicky game shows and docusoaps.
television set n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > transmitting or receiving apparatus > [noun] > television set
television set1924
television1929
home video1949
TV1949
box1950
transistor set1953
telly1954
idiot box1955
monitor1957
boob tube1959
goggle-box1959
transportable1959
the tube1959
portable1960
set1961
widescreen1982
1924 Norfolk (Va.) Jrnl. & Guide 27 Dec. 11/4 We will manage to pay for and operate a television set if it is no more expensive or complicated than radio.
2006 A. Kuczynski Beauty Junkies vi. 115 His eyes have the gauzy look of a man who has been sitting in front of a television set for a long time.
television signal n.
ΚΠ
1926 Sioux City (Iowa) Sunday Jrnl. 24 Oct. 33/1 Peculiar sounds, which are television signals being broadcast.
2015 Bournemouth Echo (Nexis) 29 July It is a known fact that wind farms scatter television signals.
television studio n.
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1926 Pop. Mech. Nov. 777/1 J. L. Baird..has established the world's first television studio in London.
2011 J. Lehrer Tension City (2012) iii. 71 They sat side by side in a Washington television studio.
television system n.
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1915 Wireless World June 193/2 All television systems depend for their action upon what is known as the ‘persistence’ of vision.
2008 J. Hartley Television Truths i. 1 Since Bhutan introduced it in 1999 there is no country in the world without a television system.
television transmission n.
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1926 Evening Tel. & Post 11 Aug. 4/1 The first license for television transmission has been granted.
2009 Amer. Econ. Jrnl. 1 9 In some areas, mountains block television transmission.
television transmitter n.
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1924 Naugatuck (Connecticut) Daily News 28 Apr. Mr. Gleek carefully turned the tuner knob until the arrow pointed at LM27, the television transmitter of the Radio Amusement corporation of America.
2003 P. Pinti & J. Bawtree Pietro's Bk. (2004) i. 15 On top of the mountain there is now a tall television transmitter.
C2.
a. attributive with the sense ‘designating a person who appears on or makes television programmes, or who is involved in television broadcasting more generally; designating an activity, process, etc., associated with such a person, or with the production or broadcast of television programmes’.
television acting n.
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1929 Television Mar. 114/3 Certain television actors..have the necessary television face and television acting requisites.
2005 T. J. Ferraro Feeling Ital. ix. 178 Rocker Steve Van Zandt..got a shot at television acting on HBO's The Sopranos.
television actor n.
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1928 Evening Tribune (Marysville, Ohio) 12 Sept. The faces of the television actors were shown with an astonishing degree of clarity.
2008 R. Moore & G. Owen My Word is my Bond (2009) v. 118 There was a great deal of snobbery about being a film actor versus a television actor.
television actress n.
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1928 Television Dec. 11/3 America is choosing television actresses.
2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 1 Dec. b3/4 The Argentine television actress Juana Molina changed careers in the mid-90's to music.
television announcer n.
ΚΠ
1929 Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Crescent 25 Sept. 9/6 Austin Rahe, of New York, the world's first actual television announcer.
2010 Discourse 31 213 A series of voices belonging to television announcers recite the day's lead stories.
television cameraman n.
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1929 Television May 112/2 The technique of the television ‘camera-man’ of the future.
2006 R. Chandrasekaran Imperial Life in Emerald City (2007) iv. 65 Three television cameramen and two still photographers meant to record Bremer's foray out of the Green Zone.
television celebrity n.
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1949 Southeast Economist (Chicago) 6 Jan. 4/3 The former champion of the squared circle, now a television celebrity as well.
2005 Spectator 22 Oct. 34/3 The addictive horrors of becoming a television celebrity.
television comedian n.
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1936 Television & Short-wave World Aug. 441/3 Television comedians. Roy Royston may be mentioned as a clever performer who always made careful preparations for his television performances.
2013 S. Balcerzak Buffoon Men iv. 111 A forerunner to the television comedians of today.
television commentator n.
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1936 Wireless World 21 Aug. 191/1 A television commentator who kept saying, ‘Now you see’.
2014 S. Davis Wooden xxxiii. 477 Immediately after his retirement, Wooden found work as a television commentator.
television crew n.
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1936 Broadcasting 15 Aug. 11/3 (caption) Philco's television crew.
2010 Atlantic Monthly Nov. 106/1 Satellite trucks and television crews were setting up in anticipation of the oil rumored to be washing ashore.
television dramatist n.
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1937 Citizen (Gloucester) 16 Jan. 4/5 (heading) Woman as first television dramatist.
2007 P. Smith in M. Murphy & D. Rees-Jones Writing Liverpool xiv. 211 It is productive to view McGovern's writing alongside that of another television dramatist from Liverpool, Lynda La Plante.
television executive n.
ΚΠ
1936 Wireless World 24 Jan. 80/3 (caption) Three German television executives photographed at a television receiver during a rehearsal.
2008 N. S. Gordon Media & Politics of Culture iii. 65 What scholars identify as cultural proximity, television executives see as a great business opportunity.
television journalism n.
ΚΠ
1937 Journalism Q. Dec. 419/1 Committee on radio, talking picture and television journalism.
2004 Discover Nov. 26/2 The celebrity pseudoevents that dominate television journalism.
television journalist n.
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1951 N.Y. Times 25 Mar. ii. 13/1 He was the model television journalist: he talked only when it was pertinent.
2011 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 6 Dec. a1 Photographers and television journalists swarmed around the chief Chinese negotiator..as he entered a news conference.
television producer n.
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1931 N.Y. Times 11 Oct. xx. 11/3 The television producers have found that white on black shows up better than the reverse.
2010 H. Jacobson Finkler Question iii. 70 She was a television producer, over in London for a few days to discuss a joint venture with Channel 4.
television production n.
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1928 N.Y. Times 16 Sept. xii. 2/7 The spectator of one of these television productions of the future.
2004 Vanity Fair Dec. 202/1 A mini-media empire..of motion-pictures theaters, television stations, television production, and publishing.
television pundit n.
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1952 Atlanta Constit. 27 Sept. 4/6 The television pundits, punsters and pretty babies had better look to their Hooper ratings.
2010 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 1 Nov. 27 Demolishing our television pundits has become a kind of national sport.
television reporter n.
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1939 N.Y. Times 26 Mar. x. 5/7 The plot deals with a television reporter who covers a hill-billy Gubernatorial campaign.
2015 J. A. Jance Cold Betrayal x. 99 In her days as a television reporter in Chicago, Ali had covered plenty of those kinds of incidents.
television script n.
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1937 Washington Post 21 Feb. vii. 5/3 He..holds the television script in his hand so he can follow the action.
2013 M. C. LaFollette Sci. on Amer. Television iv. 43 Television scripts could distill human emotions to elicit sympathy.
television writer n.
ΚΠ
1938 One Act Play Mag. Aug. 336/2 We welcome contributions..by radio and television writers.
2007 N.Y. Times Mag. 21 Oct. 36/2 Television writers..receive portions of their total fee when they finish an outline, a first draft, a second draft and then a final polish.
b. attributive with the sense ‘designating material transmitted by or broadcast on television; shown on television’.
television adaptation n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > type of programme
dramedy1905
news film1912
sex comedy1915
television adaptation1935
action comedy1936
sportcast1939
teleshopper1949
telethon1949
special1952
television special1952
TV special1952
science-fictioner1953
spectacular1954
promo1955
sitcom1956
spec1959
spin-off1959
reality programming1962
teleroman1964
mockumentary1965
serialization1965
talk show1965
laugh-in1967
novela1968
reality show1968
breakfast television1971
spy series1975
reality television1978
reality TV1980
series1988
shockumentary1988
1935 Los Angeles Times 17 June 15/1 What does the rumor signify about a television adaptation of ‘Romeo and Juliet’, the Norma Shearer production?
2010 J. John Dickens & Mass Culture viii. 266 The dwelling on poverty and drudgery..has traditionally permeated television adaptations of Dickens.
television advertisement n.
ΚΠ
1945 N.Y. Times 23 July 28/2 The company's current monthly television advertisements.
2003 C. Elliott Better than Well v. 109 Television advertisements showed a handsome full-haired young man looking into a mirror.
television advertising n.
ΚΠ
1928 Television Oct. 15/1 It is from that man that television advertising is suffering.
2015 M. Hall Attacking Judges vi. 172 Television advertising..still is not used in a sizable proportion of these races.
television comedy n.
ΚΠ
1938 Times 19 Sept. 19/2 Felicity's First Season..is a real television comedy.
2012 New Yorker 12 Mar. 77/3 A mainstream television comedy featuring openly gay characters.
television commercial n.
ΚΠ
1939 N.Y. Times 15 Oct. iv. 8/6 Could the advertiser be certain that the impression made..by his television commercial would be as deep as that of his radio commercial?
2008 Dayton (Ohio) Daily News (Nexis) 25 Jan. f7 Political television commercials are annoying, but that's why God invented the ‘mute’ button.
television documentary n.
ΚΠ
1939 Listener 27 Apr. 911/1 An attempt to work out a technique for that new and important thing, television ‘documentary’.
2007 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 3 June 29/2 Once while wreck diving for a television documentary, I unexpectedly found myself surrounded by several pregnant tiger sharks.
television drama n.
ΚΠ
1928 Women's Wear Daily 21 Aug. i. 11/5 The first television drama, two minutes in length, was enacted today.
1949 Radio Times 15 July 41/2 A variegated week for television drama.
2013 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 14 Dec. 11 An eight-episode finale that established it as one of the great television dramas of its time.
television film n.
ΚΠ
1928 N.Y. Times 15 Jan. 5/1 It is likely that television films would make many more movie fans.
2000 J. Caughie Television Drama viii. 205 The television film emulates, to a greater or lesser extent, the form of the cinema feature film.
television interview n.
ΚΠ
1931 Lake County Times (Hammond, Indiana) 15 May 2/4 (heading) First television interview held.
2008 D. Thompson $12 Million Stuffed Shark 90 She appeared in television interviews, apparently drunk.
television movie n.
ΚΠ
1927 Middletown (N.Y.) Daily Herald Times Press 14 Mar. 4/3 Television movies of events while they are happening will be available for the house.
2010 Daily Tel. 12 Mar. 29/6 It's been constructed from material shot for two television movies.
television news n.
ΚΠ
1935 Manch. Guardian 21 Sept. 16/4 A television set will be installed to receive television news.
2006 Independent 29 Sept. 44/2 Paul Vance was just an itsy bitsy teenie weenie touch surprised to learn from the television news this week that he had died.
television play n.
ΚΠ
1928 Atlanta Constit. 12 Sept. 1/7 (heading) Television play proves success.
2005 Writer's Mag. Sept. 9/4 After Tom had knocked off a couple of successful television plays..an agent approached him with a stage play synopsis.
television programme n.
ΚΠ
1926 Times of India 28 Jan. 12/4 A television programme..will begin to be broadcast from a small London station next week.
2008 Cathedral Music Nov. 24/2 On a television programme called Credo, he said what he had been saying for years and years.
television programming n.
ΚΠ
1936 Variety 11 Mar. 39/3 The long-promised start of a daily schedule of television programming in England is now set for the end of April.
2014 M. Z. Newman Video Revol. iv. 86 The cultural legitimation of some kinds of television programming.
television serial n.
ΚΠ
1938 Observer 17 July 21/3 The first episode of the Television serial ‘Ann and Harold’ proved to be light.
2009 R. Pegler Having Fun Together 33 The children's favorite television serial was ‘Dick Turnip, the Forgetful Highwayman’.
television series n.
ΚΠ
1932 Citizen 15 Aug. 11/3 (heading) New television series.
2006 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 25 June ii. 20/2 Suddenly she was the star of a popular, guilty-pleasure television series.
television show n.
ΚΠ
1929 Derby Daily Tel. 7 Mar. 6/5 (headline) Silence curtain drops on television show.
2000 ‘E. McBain’ Last Dance 260 She had seen every cop movie ever made, every cop television show ever broadcast.
television spot n. [spot n.1 19]
ΚΠ
1939 N.Y. Amsterdam News 12 Aug. 11/4 Ethel Waters, Buck and Bubbles and a few other singles and doubles have been given television spots.
2011 J. B. Wolf Is Breast Best? v. 121 In the television spots,..riding a mechanical bull while pregnant and not breastfeeding were portrayed as similarly dangerous acts.
C3. Objective, as television owner, television viewer, television viewing, etc.
ΚΠ
1931 Mt. Pleasant (Iowa) News 2 May 3/1 Forerunners of television watchers.
1936 Los Angeles Times Sunday Mag. 13 Sept. 15/3 A television viewer must give his undivided attention most of the time.
1941 N.Y. Times 6 July ix. 10/8 Television owners in the New York area are not solely dependent upon the programs provided by NBC.
1949 L. R. Cambell & R. E. Wolseley Newsmen at Work v. 54/1 Radio listening, television watching, the volume of copy, and the reduction in space all demand it [sc. brevity] of the writer for print.
1983 N.Y. Times 1 June (Business Day section) 20/1 An opportunity to evaluate China's television-viewing audience.
2005 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 29 Jan. 15/1 Television lovers are in for an early treat this year.
C4.
television cabinet n. a piece of furniture housing a television, or on which a television stands.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > cupboard or cabinet > [noun] > other cupboards or cabinets
Flanders chest1400
warestall1508
livery cupboard1571
boy1656
by-closet1696
corner-cupboard1711
India cabinet1721
pot-cupboard1789
housemaid's cupboard1843
monocleid1885
vargueño1911
console1925
cocktail cabinet1928
storage unit1951
1928 N.Y. Times 14 Jan. 1/6 The moving picture of the announcer, seen within the aperture three by three inches in each television cabinet,..came clearly and distinctly.
1969 Clarksville (Tennessee) Leaf-Chron. 16 Oct. 16/1 Designers of television cabinets are beginning to break the mold... The result, in the case of new television cabinet designs, is visually pleasing.
2018 Observer (Gladstone, Queensland) (Nexis) 17 May 4 We do our best to raise funds for nursing homes and for someone to pinch a television cabinet is pretty sad.
television camera n. a camera used for producing content for television broadcasts, (formerly) esp. one which records on videotape as opposed to film.Frequently contrasted with movie camera n. at movie n. Compounds 1, film camera n. at film n. Compounds 3Modern television cameras typically use digital storage rather than videotape or film.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > production or use of video recording > [noun] > video camera
camera1909
video camera1939
cam1969
camcorder1982
1924 Lethbridge (Alberta) Daily Herald 9 May (Second section) 8/1 The television camera will..be everywhere..where men are moving and picture news being made.
1969 Life 14 Nov. 52/2 In the theater, perhaps eight rows back of the front seats, was a raised platform on which television cameras and crews were mounted.
2011 FourFourTwo Oct. 91/1 In an incident captured by television cameras, Fitzgerald knocked Laird to the floor with a juicy haymaker.
television camera tube n. an electron tube used in television cameras for converting images into electrical signals.
ΚΠ
1937 Short Wave & Television Apr. 729/2 A drawing is here presented showing the construction of the Philco television camera tube.
1940 D. G. Fink Princ. Television Engin. i. 17 (caption) A typical television camera tube, the type 1849 iconoscope, now widely used in television broadcasting.
1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XVIII. 112/1 The image orthicon is the most highly developed of the television camera tubes.
2007 I. Sinclair & J. Dunton Electronic & Electr. Servicing (ed. 2) xviii. 209 A television camera tube or sensor produces at its output a signal which is proportional to the brightness of the light reaching its front surface.
television critic n. a person who appraises or reviews television programmes as a profession.
ΚΠ
1933 Billboard 22 Apr. 14/4 (heading) Television critics needed.
2013 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 4 Aug. b1 Your modern television critic now devotes a great deal of time writing for social media, blogging, hosting online chats and tweeting.
television engineer n. a person who designs or maintains the mechanical and electrical equipment involved in the transmission and reception of television signals; (more generally) a person who services and repairs television broadcasting equipment.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > transmitting or receiving apparatus > [noun] > one who repairs
television engineer1930
society > communication > broadcasting > television > production of television broadcast > [noun] > people involved in television production > others
production director1915
production manager1927
television engineer1930
production assistant1932
vision-mixer1938
TV engineer1946
lighting cameraman1947
floor manager1960
helmer1974
showrunner1989
1930 Billboard 20 Sept. 15/2 Equipment to be used will come from General Electric, under the supervision of Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson, television engineer.
1978 F. King Action x. 31 The failure of the television engineer to call to repair the set.
2008 Times 22 Jan. (times2 Suppl.) 19/5 A television engineer..confirmed to me what I long suspected: the picture quality on LCD flat screen sets is a joke within the industry.
television evangelism n. originally U.S. = televangelism n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > preaching > evangelization > [noun] > through television
television evangelism1951
TV evangelism1957
televangelism1958
1951 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 14 Apr. 7/2 Dr. Clausen has pioneered in television evangelism, conducting broadcasts throughout the country.
1987 Los Angeles Times 31 Mar. i. 20/2 Soon many of the biggest names in television evangelism were sniping or commenting.
2001 L. McGirr Suburban Warriors vi. 249 Schuller..expanded his activities to television evangelism.
television evangelist n. originally U.S. = televangelist n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > preaching > evangelization > [noun] > through television > one who evangelizes
television evangelist1950
TV evangelist1953
televangelist1973
televangelical1982
1950 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 6 Mar. 4/2 The Rev. Dr. Bernard Clausen..has resigned his Cleveland, O., Baptist church pulpit to become a television evangelist.
1977 Washington Post 30 Apr. a21/2 The fund had had..assets in..race tracks, gambling casinos, nursing homes..and a cathedral for a television evangelist.
2015 W. Markofski New Monasticism & Transformation Amer. Evangelism ii. 49 Television evangelists with huge national followings.
television guide n. a magazine, or a section in a newspaper, on a website, etc., providing details and reviews of television programmes.Frequently in titles.
ΚΠ
1946 Television Nov. 5/2 Tom Hutchinson has written..a complete, fully illustrated television guide.
1975 W. Wright Six Guns & Society iii. 34 It will enable the reader..to watch his television guide for a replay of one of the other films.
2014 S. E. H. Moore Crime & Media 1 Go and have a look through a television guide for the coming week.
television image n. the visual image displayed on a television screen; = television picture n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > visual element > [noun] > television picture or image
television image1909
frame1915
television picture1926
TV picture1947
home video1948
TV image1948
1909 Illustr. London News 18 Dec. 886 Each selenium eye..would vary the strength of an electric current sent through it to the person watching for the television image.
1940 D. G. Fink Princ. Television Engin. ii. 25 The transmission of television images.
2005 C. Elwes Video Art ii. 25 Nam June Paik used powerful magnets to create distortions of the television image.
television industry n. the branch of commercial activity concerned with television engineering or manufacturing, or with television broadcasting.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > organized television broadcasting
television1927
television industry1928
TV industry1946
television land1950
TV land1952
1928 Television Sept. 8/3 We do not want the history of the synthetic dye industry to be repeated in the television industry.
1972 M. L'Engle Circle of Quiet iv. 213 The men in the television industry..wait with bated breath for the Nielsen reports.
2013 Sci. Amer. Apr. 18/1 The television industry..is pushing 4K sets—that's four times the resolution of high-definition TV.
television licence n. (a) a licence to transmit television programmes; (b) a licence to own a television set or receive television broadcasts, issued and renewed upon payment of a fee typically used to fund public broadcasting.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > transmitting or receiving apparatus > [noun] > television licencing
television licence1926
TV licence1945
1926 Irish Times 10 Aug. 6/6 (heading) Television licences granted.
1935 Times of India 26 Feb. 12/5 There will be neither an increase in the ordinary 10s. licence fee, nor will a special television licence be introduced.
1999 P. Searle Riddle of Malaysian Capitalism 121 Fleet Group won the television licence.
2014 Sunday Times (Nexis) 15 June 77 Why do we have to pay for a television licence if we have such distaste for the many rubbishy programmes you expect viewers to watch?
television magazine n. (a) a magazine devoted to television broadcasting; (b) a television programme comprising a number of topical items (cf. magazine n. 6c).In quot. 1928: a journal devoted to technical discussion of television systems.
ΚΠ
1928 Times 18 Feb. 17/4 (heading) A television magazine.
1936 Observer 1 Nov. 23/2 To-morrow evening the B.B.C. film ‘Television comes to Town’ will be..followed by ‘Picture Page’, a television magazine.
1996 Atlanta Jrnl. & Constit. (Nexis) 30 June 6 d ‘CNN Presents’, a one-hour weekly television magazine.
2006 Sun Herald (Sydney) (Nexis) 9 July (Television section) 5 Each week in Sunday's biggest television magazine we'll bring you more of the best reviews.
television network n. (a) a system of television broadcasting transmitters or stations; (b) (chiefly North American) a television broadcasting organization or channel.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > organization or service
television station1926
television network1930
TV station1945
TV network1947
channel1952
Independent Television (Authority)1954
I.T.A.1955
I.T.V.1958
side1961
Channel 41964
MTV1981
1930 Denton (Texas) Record-Chron. 8 July 8/3 (heading) Nation-wide television network five years away says engineer.
1951 N.Y. Times 6 Feb. 36/7 Television Authority..and the television networks have agreed on all points in a new code of fair practice.
1974 B.B.C. Handbk. 1975 19/1 One..fairly brief consequence of the energy crisis was the decision to close down all television networks at 10.30 pm.
2013 K. Ostherr Med. Visions vi. 190 The television network..wants viewers, good ratings, and the advertising revenue they bring.
television personality n. (a) the fact of having a personality or appearance suited for transmission or broadcast on television (rare); (b) a person who is well known through appearing regularly on television; a TV celebrity.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > a television personality
television personality1929
TV star1948
televisionary1960
1929 Altoona (Pa.) Mirror 3 Jan. 9/2 The television subjects are staged in the studio, under ideal conditions, with picked actors possessing television personality.
1938 Observer 16 Oct. 33/2 Miss Elizabeth Cowell and Miss Jasmine Bligh..must be the best known of all television personalities.
2010 H. Jacobson Finkler Question i. 23 He had gone on..to become a well-known television personality.
television picture n. the visual image displayed on a television screen.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > visual element > [noun] > television picture or image
television image1909
frame1915
television picture1926
TV picture1947
home video1948
TV image1948
1926 Scotsman 8 Oct. 5/2 A television picture as sent over the ether was a succession of electrical impulses.
1977 ‘J. Fraser’ Hearts Ease in Death i. 7 The wind shaking the aerial had distorted the television picture.
2009 M. Whyman Goldstrike 7 Then came a complaint about the quality of the television picture.
television presenter n. chiefly British a person who presents or introduces a television programme.
ΚΠ
1958 Stage 9 Oct. 7/5 (advt.) Top rate woman television presenter—age, 25–35.
1978 Daily Mirror 12 June 19/1 An attractive new face joins the ranks of television presenters tonight.
2014 S. Wilson et al. Eng. Legal Syst. xiii. 420 The publicity surrounding the arrest of the former television presenter.
television public n. that part of the population which regularly watches television, considered collectively.
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1933 Television May 187/2 Without..widespread satisfaction with the disc machines,..it is obvious that the television public would still be very small.
1956 B.B.C. Handbk. 1957 104 How those of the television public who have a choice of programmes..divide their viewing time.
2011 E. Russell Reading Embodied Citizenship i. 45 Resurrecting the nineteenth-century sentimental tradition for a television public.
television ratings n. an assessment, based on statistical sampling, of the audience size of television programmes; the ranking of different programmes' popularity based on such an assessment; cf. rating n.1 5d.
ΚΠ
1948 Variety 11 Feb. 26 (heading) Hooper tees off television ratings.
1949 N.Y. Times 6 Feb. vi. 4/1 A straight television duplication of the shows ranks third in New York City television ratings.
2001 Oldie Dec. 8/1 Granada's tired old packhorse [i.e. Coronation Street] has failed to keep pace with the BBC's Eastenders in the television ratings.
television region n. a region receiving television broadcasts; spec. (chiefly British) a part of the country covered by a specific programme service or broadcasting company; such a broadcasting company itself (cf. region n. 4b).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > broadcasting service > [noun] > area covered by
region1929
coverage1930
TV region1948
television region1949
1949 N.Y. Times 12 July 25/7 Even our best covered television regions, from the standpoint of sales, are considerably less than 20 per cent saturated.
1974 B.B.C. Handbk. 1975 56/2 The Manchester site will eventually accommodate network production centre, television region and local radio station.
2008 Prep. Digital Switchover (National Audit Office) i. 13 Switchover will be implemented across the rest of the UK, television region by television region.
television replay n. (a) an act of broadcasting a previously filmed event on television (now rare); (b) a playback on television of an incident in a sporting event, esp. in slow motion; an instant replay.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > [noun] > action or instance of replaying recording > specific
television replay1954
TV replay1955
action replay1970
instant replay1973
1954 Clovis (New Mexico) News-Jrnl. 6 May 6/1 An edited television replay of the hearing.
1970 N.Y. Times 28 Feb. 32/1 The entire contingent marched into the stands and watched the television replay.
2000 Times 3 Aug. 34/8 Television replays suggested that Muralitharan had not edged the ball.
television rights n. the rights to adapt a literary or dramatic work for television, or to televise a film, sporting event, etc.
ΚΠ
1927 South China Morning Post 4 May 6/3 Television rights had been booked throughout the British Isles and in many neighbouring countries.
1976 J. Monaco New Wave xii. 288 Schroeder and Rohmer sold television rights to two of the short films they had made.
2015 R. L. Simon et al. Fair Play vii. 189 Television rights to major events, such as the NCAA Men's Basketball Championships, sell for billions.
television satellite n. a communications satellite that relays and amplifies television signals.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > transmitting or receiving apparatus > [noun] > satellite
television satellite1952
TV satellite1957
satellite dish1962
direct broadcasting by satellite1977
DBS1981
Squarial1988
1952 M. Caidin Rockets beyond Earth x. 194 (caption) A net of three or four television satellites orbiting about the planet.
1976 I. Levin Boys from Brazil vi. 180 Speaking to the whole world at once..by television satellite.
2010 G. Bains in C. Forrester High Above (2011) ii. 28 Different television satellites are placed at different points around the geostationary orbital path.
television schedule n. a printed (or in later use electronic) schedule listing the programmes on television during a particular period, and the times at which they are to be shown; (hence) the programmes shown on television considered collectively; frequently in plural.
ΚΠ
1928 N.Y. Times 20 May ix. 21/1 We have received hundreds of letters asking for our television schedule.
2006 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 14 Jan. f8/1 Digital recorders that search television schedules and save only programs suiting the user's taste.
2010 Independent 18 June (Viewspaper section) 11/2 Telenovelas, the long-running soap series that dominate television schedules back home in Colombia.
television special n. originally U.S. a television programme broadcast for a particular occasion or purpose.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > type of programme
dramedy1905
news film1912
sex comedy1915
television adaptation1935
action comedy1936
sportcast1939
teleshopper1949
telethon1949
special1952
television special1952
TV special1952
science-fictioner1953
spectacular1954
promo1955
sitcom1956
spec1959
spin-off1959
reality programming1962
teleroman1964
mockumentary1965
serialization1965
talk show1965
laugh-in1967
novela1968
reality show1968
breakfast television1971
spy series1975
reality television1978
reality TV1980
series1988
shockumentary1988
1952 N.Y. Times 17 Nov. 31/5 This was the television special.
1993 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Jrnl. 4 Jan. b5/1 Crosby, whose ‘Little Drummer Boy’ duet with David Bowie, from his final, 1977 television special, is exhumed each Christmas.
2013 K. H. Jarausch United Germany p. vii In newspaper articles, television specials, and exhibitions, former dissidents..sought to recapture the courage of the opposition movement.
television star n. a popular performer on television broadcasts; a television celebrity.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > performer > [noun] > types of performer > star or principal
star1808
co-star1888
starlet1910
television star1931
principal1936
vedette1963
1931 Chicago Defender 21 Feb. 5/4 Wesley Long..is one of the pioneer television stars.
1951 A. C. Clarke Sands of Mars xiii. 163 A..caricature of a well-known television star.
2010 N. J. Vujicic Life without Limits (2012) viii. 145 We lived just outside Los Angeles and Hollywood, so we were always bumping into..television stars in the grocery store.
television station n. a television broadcasting station (see station n. 5h); (later usually) spec. a television channel.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > broadcasting service > [noun] > broadcasting station
station1910
transmitting station1923
television station1926
rebroadcaster1930
TV station1945
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > organization or service
television station1926
television network1930
TV station1945
TV network1947
channel1952
Independent Television (Authority)1954
I.T.A.1955
I.T.V.1958
side1961
Channel 41964
MTV1981
1926 Manch. Guardian 9 Jan. 9/5 A licence to install ‘television’ stations in Manchester, London, Glasgow, and Belfast.
1980 Whitaker's Almanack 816/1 There are 65 television stations, of which 4 are in Buenos Aires.
2011 K. Slaughter Fallen iv. 88 Our kidnapper had to know her picture would be on every television station the minute he took her.
television supper n. now rare an evening meal eaten while watching television; cf. TV dinner n. at TV n.1 Compounds 4.In quot. 1934: a social gathering for a meal, held in a room provided with television equipment.
ΚΠ
1934 Western Times 21 Sept. 9/2 At the Congregational Church Schoolroom a ‘television’ supper was held.
1950 Independent (Long Beach, Calif.) 23 Nov. 5 a/1 (advt.) Perfect for preparing delicacies for television suppers.
1973 D. Miller Chinese Jade Affair xi. 108 This was where the old lady had her television suppers.
television tube n. (a) a vacuum tube (in later use spec. a cathode ray tube) used in a television to convert electrical signals into images; (b) = television camera tube n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > transmitting or receiving apparatus > [noun] > television set > cathode-ray tube
television tube1928
kinescope1930
picture tube1940
TV tube1945
1928 Pop. Mech. Oct. 156/2 (advt.) Daven Television Receiver, Complete, including Television Tube—$100.00.
1943 Electronic Engin. 15 329/2 The modern television tube has many ancestors. We could start its history in 1897.
1975 D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. xi. 57 Antimony trisulfide vidicons, lead oxide vidicons, and image orthicons are the work-horse television tubes.
2012 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 23 May 16 It's also used to produce potassium carbonate, which is used primarily in the manufacture of specialty glasses, such as television tubes.
television van n. a van containing equipment for making television broadcasts on location.
ΚΠ
1934 Times 20 Aug. 8/3 The German Broadcasting Company intend using this television van for the experimental service shortly to be introduced in Berlin.
1956 R. Robinson Landscape with Dead Dons xiii. 117 ‘You refer to the television van?’ ‘The one you told me the little men come in.’
2009 R. Pennie Tainted xxii. 200 Three television vans..surveyed the rowdiness as they broadcast the city's humiliation to the world.
Derivatives
ˈtelevisional adj. of, relating to, or characteristic of television; appearing on or suitable for television.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [adjective]
televisual1912
televisionary1927
televisional1929
videographic1949
1929 Catal. Copyright Entries: Pt. 1, Group 3 (Libr. of Congr. Copyright Office) 2 149/1 Who's calling? a televisional musical comedy.
1971 Times 5 May 10/ Would a potential presidential candidate really expose himself to such vainglorious, muck-racking televisional personality?
2005 Shofar 24 4 This film disassembles both the conventional narrative structure of cinematic and televisional courtroom texts.
ˈtelevisionist n. (a) a television enthusiast (now rare); (b) a person who works in the television industry.
ΚΠ
1927 Brit. Weekly 6 Jan. 378/5 Televisionists will expect their heroes to stay put.
1963 Sewanee Rev. 71 286 Whether the televisionists are what our present culture-mongers believe them to be, we may have our stubborn doubts.
2000 Independent (Nexis) 21 July 7 Outside the BBC, in Portland Place, I meet an old friend, a televisionist.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online September 2022).
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n.1900