wirelessadj.n.
/ˈwʌɪələs/, U.S. /ˈwaɪ(ə)rləs/ A. adj.
1. Lacking or not requiring a wire or wires.
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1825 Monthly Rev. 108 71 Mr. Waterton's mode of preserving birds for cabinets of natural history is a new and curious melange of wireless cotton, sublimate, and sentimentalism.
1852 Knickerbocker 39 267 Check-strings are pulled after the manner of angry dramatic uncles, when they vent themselves on wireless theatrical bell-ropes.
1887 Warren (Pa.) Ledger 14 Oct. Mexican telegraphs... I have myself seen poles wireless, and also long stretches of wire without poles.
1936 Life 21 Dec. 59/1 (caption) It is not comfortable to sit up stiffly with your head strung on wires. To eliminate the discomfort of the wired waving machine, ‘wireless’ wavers have been developed.
1999 G. D. Schmidt Anson's Way xi. 192 He sank like a wireless puppet and flopped onto the stones.
2006 New Yorker 26 June 15/3 The movie, which features ‘parkour’, the wall-scaling martial art, begins with a highly sensational, wireless, Jackie Chan-worthy escape from a tenement building and over rooftops.
2.
a. Designating a device, system, or communications network which uses radio waves, microwaves, etc., for the transmission and reception of signals, rather than a physical connection; of or relating to transmissions of this kind.In early use often with reference to wireless telegraphy and telephony. Cf. wireless telegraph n. Now chiefly with reference to the transmission of data between computers or other networked devices (cf. Wi-Fi n.), or over a mobile phone network.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic devices or components > [adjective] > dispensing with wires
wireless1887
1887 Daily Rev. (Decatur, Illinois) 10 May Thomas A. Edison has returned from Florida with the results of his wireless telegraphic experiments in shape to put to practical use.
1898 Electr. Rev. 22 July 129/2 The wireless messages were sent from a steam tug, which followed the races.
1964 Jrnl. Higher Educ. 35 402/2 The Forum is outfitted with varied electronic equipment..including tape recorder, turntable, wireless microphone, slide and film-strip projector.
1995 NetworkWorld 18 Sept. 17/5 (header) Itronix builds wireless laptop from ground up.
2008 Guardian (Nexis) 26 Jan. (Mag.) 14 More powerful mobile phones and faster wireless data rates have allowed vloggers to go mobile.
2013 Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 5 Jan. a3 Syracuse city officials will spend $67,500 to replace the wireless modems in 270 electronic parking meters.
b. Designating electrical energy which is transferred between devices without the need for a physical connection; of, involving, or relating to such a transfer of energy. Also: designating electronic devices which are capable of transferring or receiving energy in this way.One of the earliest methods established for transferring power in this way was by means of inductive coupling (inductive coupling at inductive adj. 5a).
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1899 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 147 64 And why should we not have wireless electric railroading and wireless power transmission with selective receiving apparatus for all, preventing interference.
1907 Amer. Marine Engineer June 16/1 Only the other day a London scientist declared his belief that in a comparatively short while the ocean will be traversed by ships driven by wireless power generated by the Niagara Falls.
1940 Science 27 Dec. 14/1 Experiments with the klystron tube using large amounts of power at ultra-high frequencies were successful in transmitting wireless power a distance of many feet.
1996 Electr. Technol. 96 119 Single-wire or wireless charging circuits for capacitive energy storages are associated with Tesla type circuits.
2016 Hutchinson (Kansas) News 10 Jan. c8/6 Wireless charging has always been much slower than wired.
B. n.
1. Wireless telephony or (less commonly) wireless telegraphy; the transmission and reception of radio waves, esp. ones carrying sound signals; this activity as an organized or commercial enterprise; = radio n. 1a, 1b. Also: a particular radio station (= radio n. 1d) (rare). Now historical.Largely superseded by the term radio except in historical contexts.mukluk wireless: see mukluk wireless n. at mukluk n. Compounds.
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society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > [noun]
wireless1899
wireless communication1899
radio1907
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telegraphy > [noun] > types or systems of > radio-telegraphy
space telegraphy1897
wireless telegraphy1897
radio-telegraphy1898
spark telegraphy1898
wireless1899
marconigraphy1902
Marconism1903
radiography1904
W/T1914
spark1921
society > communication > broadcasting > radio broadcasting > [noun]
radio1907
wireless1922
the spoken word1940
sound1949
steam radio1957
steam1959
society > communication > broadcasting > radio broadcasting > [noun] > radio service
radio network1923
service area1923
programme1929
radio1935
wireless1939
community radio1947
1899 Times 18 Nov. 14/4 We were transcribing..many telegrams for many parts of England and France, which had been sent 50, 45, 40 miles by ‘wireless’.
1903 N.Y. Commercial Advertiser 31 Jan. S 2/2 First in this great field of making the ‘wireless’ a handmaid of commerce is the de Forrest system.
1915 C. Grahame-White & H. Harper Aircraft in Great War iv. xi. 150 The application of wireless to aeroplanes has, in the British Flying Corps, been studied very carefully.
1922 Daily Mail 30 Nov. 8 The Prince of Wales..delivered a message by wireless to the Boy Scouts.
1927 C. Connolly Let. 27 Jan. in Romantic Friendship (1975) 231 Chesterton is trying to be funny over the wireless.
1939 Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 1/5 Moscow wireless claims advances in the Murmansk district.
1951 Sport 27 Apr. 2/1 Photos in the papers and interviews on the wireless.
1952 Times Rev. of Year 1 Jan. p. v/2 Sound radio (wireless declined farther towards archaism) has done much during the year.
1978 E. Blishen Sorry, Dad ii. i. 40 Wireless was still quite raw and improbable. The Dockrees next door had one... It was a crystal set.
1996 B. Duncan in P. Trynka Rock Hardware 78/1 Lee de Forest patented the triode in the U.S.A. in 1906, and by 1907 he had used it to broadcast music by wireless for the first time.
2. A radio-telegram.
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society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telegraphy > [noun] > telegraphic message > types of
telotype1850
cablegram1868
cable-message1877
phonogram1880
cable1883
ticking1888
aerogram1890
T.T.1893
petit bleu1898
Marconigram1902
radio-telegram1902
radiogram1903
wireless1903
news flash1904
teleflash1904
lettergram1908
day letter1910
night letter telegram1910
night telegraph letter1912
radio1915
printergram1932
teletype1933
greeting telegram1937
telemessage1941
overnight telegram1955
telex1957
1903 Courier (Connellsville, Pa.) 5 Mar. 4/2 When the poultry show managers recived [sic] the entry blank they sent a wireless to Mr Clawson stating that ostriches were barred.
1940 N. Marsh Surfeit of Lampreys (1941) ii. 25 The steward gave her two [letters] and a wireless message. She opened the wireless first.
1963 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 53 78/1 Béla Kun, Commissar for Foreign Affairs, sent a wireless from Budapest to Clémenceau, reminding him of the latter's dispatch of June 13th.
2005 Hindu (Nexis) 18 Jan. I sent a wireless to the State government to send a batch of health officers who could take up preventive work in the affected villages.
3. Chiefly British. An apparatus for receiving radio signals, a radio (radio n. 2); (also) an apparatus for both transmitting and receiving radio signals. For many users this sense is either historical or somewhat archaic.pedal wireless: see pedal wireless n. at pedal n.1 Compounds 2.
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society > communication > broadcasting > radio broadcasting > [noun] > radio set
portable1900
wireless set1907
wireless1909
crystal receiver1910
radio1912
radio set1912
box1916
crystal set1921
crystal radio1922
receiver1930
car radio1931
clock radio1946
transistor set1953
transistor radio1956
steam radio1957
transistor1961
tranny1969
Casseiver1976
society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > radio equipment > [noun] > radio set
wireless set1907
wireless1909
radio1912
radio set1912
satellite radio1958
digital radio1970
digital radio1979
1909 Science 15 Oct. 525/2 I was given the opportunity during the voyage, by Mr. Bates, the chief operator of the wireless, to try the neon tube as an instrument for the visual reading of the wireless message.
1910 E. R. Gilman Let. in G. C. Strachan Equal Pay for Equal Work 542 We are living in an age of marvellous progress—..the age of the telephone, the telegraph, the wireless, the electric motor, and even the aeroplane.
1927 T. E. Lawrence Let. 4 Oct. (1938) 543 We have no wireless, and I don't look at papers.
a1944 K. Douglas Alamein to Zem Zem (1946) 49 The wirelesses in the new tanks had to be checked.
1954 W. Faulkner Fable 166 It's too bad every house he passes don't have a wireless, like ships do.
1971 Daily Tel. 13 May 7/1 I used to stand alone in front of that big brown box that used to be called a ‘wireless’ and conduct symphony concerts.
1972 M. Gilbert Petrella at Q (1977) 37 P. C. Owers..summoned assistance on his pocket wireless.
2001 J. Boyle Galloway Street 109 On Saturday nights after he's checked his coupon my daddy likes listening to the Scottish Dance Music on the wireless.
4. Wireless internet access; an internet connection which users may access wirelessly. Cf. Wi-Fi n.
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2001 Sunday Capital (Annapolis, Maryland) 28 Jan. b5/4 For people..whose cable network hasn't been upgraded for Internet data, fixed wireless can be a glimmer of hope for speedy downloads of Web sites.
2006 Church Times 23 June 26/2 The latest survey shows that 20 per cent of all home broadband-users now have wireless installed.
2015 S. Yoerg Middle of Somewhere xiii. 117 ‘Have you got wireless?’ ‘We do but we don't give out the code.’
Compounds
C1. Compounds of the adjective.
a. In sense A. 2.
wireless LAN n.
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1986 InfoWorld 12 May 6/3 The benefits of a wireless LAN may be limited to a small fraction of potential network sites.
2005 J. T. Geier Wireless Networks First-step v. 105 Wireless LAN solutions are found in homes, small offices, enterprises, and public areas.
wireless system n.
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1897 Des Moines (Iowa) Daily News 24 July 4/7 A distance of four kilometres the wireless system worked perfectly.
1949 L. Morris Not So Long Ago iii. ii. 437 By its exclusive arrangements with foreign wireless systems, the Radio Corporation had prevented them [sc. Westinghouse Company officials] from entering the field of worldwide wireless service.
2006 Metro (Toronto) 28 Aug. 14/6 Paramedics gather data and transmit it on a wireless system via a touch-screen tablet computer as they treat their patients.
wireless technology n.
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1921 B. J. Leggett Wireless Telegr. xii. 343 Owing to the undeveloped state of wireless technology at this period, it was only found possible to equip the balloons with receiving apparatus.
2004 Which? Jan. 4/4 Want to try wi-fi? We're looking for a family with multiple computers and broadband access who would like to try wireless technology.
wireless broadband n.
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1999 Wired Dec. 362/2 His concept, known as LMDS, for local multipoint distribution service, is a leader in the new category of fixed wireless broadband.
2004 Wall St. Jrnl. 17 Feb. (Central ed.) a20/5 The emergence of wireless broadband..has been thwarted.
2011 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Feb. 4/1 Wireless broadband is booming and already affects Internet use, innovation and investment.
b.
wireless access n. access to a computer or telephone network via a wireless connection; esp. access to the internet via a connection of this kind.
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1990 Bellcore Insight Winter 11/2 A recent European study forecasts that by 2000, half of all calls will have at least one of the parties using wireless access.
1995 N.Y. Times 16 Aug. d1/2 The company..said it intended to offer services ranging from secure business transactions to..voice and video conferencing, and wireless access.
2004 Broadband World Sept. 34/3 They now have plans to bring free, fast wireless access to deprived areas of Wales that are currently being ignored by commercial providers.
2011 K. D. Wong Fund. Wireless Communication Engin. Technol. vii. 193 We examine error control coding, which is especially crucial for wireless access.
wireless access point n. Computing a device connected to a network (usually by wire) which allows computers, mobile phones, games consoles, etc., with suitable hardware to connect to the same network wirelessly (e.g. using Wi-Fi).
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1992 Business Communications Rev. Aug. 42/2 Limiting the range of wireless access points such that a line-of-sight path is probable between the stations and the access point.
2001 Chicago Tribune 3 Dec. iv. 4/4 Hook up this wireless access point to your DSL or cable Internet connection, and you can get high-speed wireless connections to computers anywhere in your house.
2004 R. Grant Linux for Non-geeks xviii. 254 If you want to set up a wireless system in your home of office, the first thing you will need to get is a wireless access point.
wireless application protocol n. Telecommunications and Computing a specification for the transfer of data to and from a hand-held wireless device, esp. a mobile phone; abbreviated WAP.
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1997 Regulatory News Service (Nexis) 26 June Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, and Unwired Planet, today announced plans to co-operate in defining a common wireless application protocol.
2000 Red Herring Feb. 240/1 Nokia, the first company to introduce an Internet phone based on the wireless application protocol (an open, universal standard) reported robust sales.
2008 Cape Argus (Nexis) 10 May (Personal Finance section) 4 WAP stands for wireless application protocol, which is a technology that enables your cellphone to connect to the internet.
wireless communication n. communication using radio signals (as opposed to signals sent over wires as in traditional telegraphy and telephony).
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society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > [noun]
wireless1899
wireless communication1899
radio1907
1899 Alton (Illinois) Evening Tel. 31 Aug. Sig. Marconi..has arrived in Rome to confer with the Italian admiralty regarding the establishment of wireless communication between signal stations and naval vessels at sea.
1962 C. Hibbert Battle of Arnhem v. 73 He anxiously wondered whether he should try and get back to his Headquarters where, for all he knew, wireless communications were still as bad as they were at the front.
2001 F. Popcorn & A. Hanft Dict. Future 78 The explosion of wireless communication, including email enabled PDAs and next-generation wireless devices like the BlackBerry, have created the phenomenon of submeetings.
wireless device n. a device that is able to transmit and receive messages or information other than over wires; (now) spec. a hand-held electronic device (as a mobile phone or a PDA) able to send and receive data (esp. to and from the internet) wirelessly.
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1899 Daily Gaz. (Janesville, Wisconsin) 23 Oct. 7/1 With the wireless device one aerial station simply repeats the message sent from below to the other.
1931 H. F. Pringle Theodore Roosevelt ii. viii. 367 During 1904, vessels throughout the world were installing the new wireless devices and rumors of visual telephony intrigued the comic-strip artists.
2000 Daily Tel. 12 Jan. 29/2 By 2003, more people will be connecting to the web via a wireless device than through PCs.
wireless internet n. Computing a connection to the internet that does not depend on wires to carry the signals; cf. Wi-Fi n., WAP n.4
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1994 Newsbytes News Network (Washington, D.C.) (Factiva) 19 Apr. Hybrid offers high-speed, wireless Internet in DC.
2005 Wall St. Jrnl. 9 Sept. (Central ed.) a13/5 An innovative surveillance bubble over the city consisting of cameras, wireless Internet and software.
wireless router n. Computing a device that combines the functions of a router (router n.6) and a wireless access point, typically allowing a computer or other device to gain wireless access to a broadband internet connection.
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1993 Computerworld 19 Apr. 124/2 Wireless routers... Cisco is developing wireless interfaces for its routers.
2006 D. A. Karp Windows XP Annoyances (ed. 2) vii. 416 A router allows you to connect your computer..to the Internet. A wireless router does the same thing, but it also adds a wireless access point.
2007 Independent 7 Mar. (Extra section) 10/5 A wireless router signal can travel more than 100 metres and pass through walls.
wireless service n. Telecommunications and Computing (a) a service offering the transmission or receipt of messages by wireless telegraphy or telephony; (b) a service offering internet access, voice communication, text messaging, etc., by the use of a hand-held electronic device, esp. a mobile phone (cf. WAP n.4).
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1899 Naugatuck (Connecticut) Daily News 9 Nov. 1/3 The Phila not being equipped for the wireless service was obliged to signal by megaphone.
1930 Telegr. & Teleph. Jrnl. 16 110/2 The State wireless services only undertake ‘Ship-to-shore’..and ‘Point-to-point’ internal traffic.
1997 Chicago Tribune 5 Oct. i. 15 (advt.) Wireless service that no busy superhero should be without. Caller ID, voice-mail and pager-like options help you stay in touch.
2006 Guardian (Nexis) 27 Aug. (Technology section) 3 The cafe owner was initially intrigued when a rival coffee shop a five-minute walk away advertised its free wireless service.
C2. Compounds of the noun. Now chiefly historical.Largely superseded (originally in American English, later in British English) by the corresponding compounds with radio.
a. In senses B. 1, B. 3.
wireless aerial n.
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1908 Washington Post 19 Apr. 11/7 (advt.) One wireless aerial for amateur.
1937 Discovery Feb. 37/1 The wireless aerial and its stays would become coated with an almost uniform layer of this frost.
2001 S. Hong Wireless v. 135 It seemed to me that we should gain a great advantage if we could convert the feeble alternating currents in a wireless aerial into unidirectional current.
wireless announcer n.
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1925 Times 27 May 10/3 The ideal wireless announcer should speak at an average rate of approximately 175 words per minute.
2000 Glasgow Herald (Nexis) 25 May 22 In your head you hear one of those bow-tied wireless announcers laying it on plummy and chummy for the plebs.
wireless broadcast n.
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1914 Indianapolis Star 30 Nov. 2/4 The spread of official news by Wireless Broadcast over the globe for whomsoever can pick it up is a new method of political propaganda.
1935 Times 16 May 9/3 When television sets are as numerous as broadcast receivers it is possible that there may be a demand for some form of record..with which the viewer would be independent of wireless broadcasts.
2004 M. Oke Times of our Lives 139 Wireless broadcasts, cinema newsreels and newspapers were censored.
wireless broadcasting n.
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1920 San Antonio (Texas) Light 27 Nov. 1/1 Wireless broadcasting of the details of the game let the Atlantic and Pacific fleets know about it.
2008 Derby Evening Tel. (Nexis) 11 Feb. 22 Journey into Space, Quatermass and the morale-boosting wartime Forces' Programme were just some of the unforgettable gems from the early days of wireless broadcasting.
wireless-equipped adj.
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1905 Piqua (Ohio) Daily Call 5 Oct. 2/3 It is believed that from Honolulu it will be possible to communicate with all the wireless equipped vessels within a radius of 2000 or more miles, or 4000 miles out from San Francisco.
1996 J. English in B. J. McKercher & M. A. Hennessy Operational Art ii. 23 By 1917 90 percent of British counterbattery observation was conducted by airmen in wireless-equipped aircraft.
wireless mast n.
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1904 Ogden (Utah) Standard 23 Apr. 8/5 It is even argued that no civilian should be allowed to erect a wireless mast without executive permission.
1948 M. Laski Tory Heaven iv. 58 The car..had a searchlight and a wireless mast and outside gears and a rev counter.
2007 Irish Independent (Nexis) 6 Nov. It is typical of people who protest against wireless masts that they show no inclination to throw away their cell-phones.
wireless operator n.
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society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telegraphy > [noun] > telegraph operator
telegrapher1794
telegraphist1817
puncher1876
key worker1884
sounder1887
cabler1890
space-telegrapher1899
Marconist?1900
key man1901
wireless operator1902
wirer1916
ham1919
1902 Newport (Rhode Island) Daily News 21 Feb. 1/6 (heading) Wireless Operator on Watch for Signals from the Kronprinz.
2000 B. Segal Whisper Awhile 43 I was accompanied by two Libyans, one a wireless operator, the other a contact man.
wireless room n.
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1906 Daily Chron. 21 Aug. 4/3 The captain was absorbed in the ‘wireless’ room... As he himself said, he was ‘so occupied with the wireless operations’.
1993 B. Watson in F. H. Hinsley & A. Stripp Codebreakers (1994) 307 This was soon made into a wireless room (Station X), and an aerial array was erected between the high chimneys and the top of a tall tree.
wireless transmitter n.
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1903 U.S. Patent 719,405 1/1 The wireless transmitter, attuned to operate in unison with such wireless receiver, may be upon a floating vessel or upon land.
1923 Radio Times 28 Sept. 26/3 A small wireless transmitter will be installed at the ‘Old Vic’.
2003 J. Dawson & S. Propes 45 RPM ii. 12 Gradually Sarnoff saw his future in the new ‘wireless telegraph’, which by 1912 became known as ‘radio’ because wireless transmitters radiated electrical signals in all directions.
wireless valve n.
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1919 Times 11 Aug. 10/5 Members will be shown..the enormous amplification that is obtained by the use of wireless valves.
1923 Radio Times 28 Sept. 33 (advt.) A new wireless valve.
2000 Globe & Mail (Canada) (Nexis) 8 Apr. a30 The first Colossus with its hundreds of old-fashioned wireless valves.
b. With the sense ‘transmitted or broadcast by wireless’.
wireless concert n.
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1919 Sandusky (Ohio) Reg. 18 Apr. 1/3 (headline) 1st Wireless Concert Has Cleveland Radius.
2005 A. Briggs & P. Burke Social Hist. Media (rev. ed.) v. 128 A wireless concert broadcast..from Brant Rock, Massachusetts, on Christmas Eve 1906, and picked up in places as far away as the Caribbean.
wireless news n.
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1902 Coshocton (Ohio) Age 30 Dec. 7/3 The progress of wireless telegraphy appears to give us the assurance that the transmission of wireless news is not far off.
1926 in Listener (1974) 25 Apr. 519 Wireless news will be broadcasted by the B.B.C.
2008 Quadrant (Nexis) 1 Jan. There was continuous wireless news..about the Japanese forces spreading around the Pacific.
wireless play n.
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1910 Indianapolis Star 24 Jan. 7/1 This wireless episode, one of the most sensational in modern scientific history, naturally drew attention to the ‘wireless’ play, advertising it extensively.
1989 Independent (Nexis) 9 Jan. 11 Stewart Parker..wrote a fine comedy for television in 1985 called Radio Pictures about the making of a wireless play.
wireless programme n.
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1922 Davenport (Iowa) Democrat & Leader 17 Feb. 5/4 A radio bulletin in the boys' division tells of a wireless program to be given out from the radio chapel of Westinghouse.
2007 Independent on Sunday (Nexis) 17 June Over his long career, in which a mere wireless programme became a national institution, he has overseen 29 commentators and countless summarisers.
wireless talk n.
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1902 Marion (Ohio) Daily Star 27 Jan. 8/6 (headline) Wireless talk... The Cunard liner Umbria..reports that she had four hours conversation with her sister ship..in mid-ocean.
1930 J. Huxley Bird-watching & Bird Behaviour p. vii Six wireless talks.
2007 Daily Mail (Nexis) 26 Jan. 71 He happily spends his time eating knickerbocker glories and honing his wireless talks on such subjects as ‘the law and the little man’.
c.
wireless battery n. †(a) a battery that does not have wires (obsolete); (b) a battery suitable for radios.
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1905 Lancet 9 Sept. 806/2 ‘Wireless’ electric battery... There is no wire, yet the case itself serves the purpose of a wire... It is made by the Wireless Battery Company.
1933 Radio Times 14 Apr. 83 (advt.) Ever Ready wireless batteries.
2006 Independent (Nexis) 6 Apr. The people of her generation..took shoes to the cobblers, and got their wet-cell wireless batteries recharged every other week.
wireless cabinet n. (a) a small room from which a radio operator broadcasts; (b) a piece of furniture incorporating a radio set.
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society > communication > broadcasting > radio broadcasting > [noun] > radio set > cabinet for
wireless cabinet1918
1918 Manitoba Free Press 2 July 1/2 In his wireless cabinet, the Marconi operator was trying..to transmit the ship's position.
1928 Charleston (W. Virginia) Daily Mail 6 Nov. 5/1 Every piece of furniture that the morning light would reveal was perfect..even the wireless cabinet.
1988 P. Sparke Introd. Design & Culture in 20th Cent. viii. 132 Bakelite..was first used in electrical fittings but was soon extended to telephones, wireless cabinets and ashtrays.
2006 W. Britton Onscreen & Undercover i. 11 Mad Prince Stefan has a secret submarine, a hidden wireless cabinet,..and one device popular in the period, secret trapdoors.
wireless licence n. an official permit required to broadcast or listen to radio.
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society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > [noun] > radio licence
wireless licence1912
radio licence1914
1912 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 12 Dec. 14/5 (headline) Must Get Wireless License From U.S.
1958 Whitaker's Almanack 1098/1 If application is made at any other office which conducts wireless licence business, arrangements can be made for a licence to be issued at a Head Post Office.
1995 C. Ehrlich First Philharmonic x. 206 Wireless licences had increased from two million in 1926 to five million in 1932, and by 1935 virtually every home in Britain was paying to receive programmes.
wireless set n. = sense B. 3; cf. radio set n. at radio n. Compounds 1a.
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society > communication > broadcasting > radio broadcasting > [noun] > radio set
portable1900
wireless set1907
wireless1909
crystal receiver1910
radio1912
radio set1912
box1916
crystal set1921
crystal radio1922
receiver1930
car radio1931
clock radio1946
transistor set1953
transistor radio1956
steam radio1957
transistor1961
tranny1969
Casseiver1976
society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > radio equipment > [noun] > radio set
wireless set1907
wireless1909
radio1912
radio set1912
satellite radio1958
digital radio1970
digital radio1979
1907 Des Moines (Iowa) Daily News 21 July 4/3 A section of the signal corps is trying to keep its telephone and telegraph lines in condition, and keep up communication with Des Moines by a portable wireless set.
1923 J. Reith Diary 19 Mar. (1975) ii. 131 I was standing talking to them with the wireless set at my back and I pushed the switch.
a1944 K. Douglas Alamein to Zem Zem (1946) 25 About dusk the wireless sets in all tanks were switched on.
2000 E. Berridge Tell it to Stranger 173 Life would have been bleak indeed without the BBC. Our bakelite Philco wireless set was a lifeline.
wireless shack n. = radio shack n. at radio n. Compounds 3.
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society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > radio equipment > [noun] > room or office
wireless shack1911
radio shack1917
shack1929
1911 Indianapolis Star 16 July We lay in there all that night, me and Furlong sleepin' in the wireless shack.
1937 G. H. Grant Heels of Gale vi. 59 The wireless shack..had been lifted on board by a crane on the day before sailing and bolted to the wooden planks.
2003 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 14 Dec. a4 The airport..had two hard-surface runways, a 210-foot mooring tower to accommodate airships,..a wireless shack, an air terminal and ancillary buildings.
wireless silence n. = radio silence n. at radio n. Compounds 3.
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society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > [noun] > state of being in communication > not
wireless silence1912
radio silence1919
1912 Nevada State Jrnl. 10 June 1/2 The dreaded wireless silence which has kept back news of the plight of the residents of Kodiak Island since the outbreak of Katmai volcano last Thursday was broken by a brief message from the revenue cutter Manning..saying: ‘Residents Kodiak safe.’
a1944 K. Douglas Alamein to Zem Zem (1946) 49 Wireless silence was in force.
2006 Daily Mail (Nexis) 16 Feb. 34 All that naval intelligence could say for sure was that two pocket battleships, identities unknown, were at sea and keeping wireless silence.
wireless station n. = radio station n. at radio n. Compounds 3.
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society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > radio equipment > [noun] > radio station
signal station1803
wireless station1899
radio station1910
daytimer1940
1899 Hawaiian Gaz. 13 June 3/4 (heading) Wireless station at South Foreland light.
1909 Chambers's Jrnl. July 428/2 At Aldershot..there is a powerful wireless station.
2007 Guardian (Nexis) 15 Dec. 40 I slip inside the roofless ruin of Marconi's 1914 wireless station, from which he sent his radio messages across the Atlantic.
wireless wave n. = radio wave n. at radio n. Compounds 3; frequently in plural.
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society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > [noun] > radio wave
electric ray1746
wireless wave1901
radio wave1915
1901 Sunday Rev. (Decatur, Illinois) 17 Nov. 11/4 This immense coil requires about one horsepower of electrical energy for the perfect transmission of wireless waves.
1936 Discovery Sept. 285/1 The reason why wireless waves travel round the earth's surface instead of disappearing into space has been explained by investigations of the properties of the upper atmosphere.
2006 Radio (Nexis) 1 Nov. 40 Fessenden..proved voice and music could be carried by continuous wireless waves.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
wirelessv.
/ˈwʌɪələs/, U.S. /ˈwaɪ(ə)rləs/ Now rare.
1. intransitive. To send a message by wireless; = radio v. 2. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > communicate by radio [verb (intransitive)]
wireless1899
talk1912
marconi1919
radio1926
to call in1930
1899 Westm. Gaz. 6 Apr. 8/1 Touters may soon be able to wireless..from pole to pole.
1918 J. M. Gibbon Drums Afar xxii. 215 ‘That would just suit fine,’ replied Mrs. Raymond, wirelessing with her eyes to Madeline, whose smile was sufficient answer.
1920 H. MacQuarrie Tahiti Days iii. 39 The Raratongan government promptly wirelessed to the little schooner, ordering her to return at once to be quarantined.
1935 T. Wolfe Of Time & River cii. 904 The commander had wirelessed asking that there be as little delay as possible.
1977 J. Cleary High Road to China vi. 194 Durant, in Baghdad, had said he would wireless ahead to Quetta to expect us.
2. transitive. To send (a message) by wireless; to inform or instruct (a person, etc.) by wireless; = radio v. 1. Also with direct and indirect object. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > communicate by radio [verb (transitive)] > transmit by radio
marconi1908
wireless1910
radio1919
radiate1923
to call in1939
squirt1971
1910 L. J. Vance No Man's Land xi. 197 Voorhis had wirelessed: ‘Power gave notice he was leaving yesterday evening’.
1914 Atlantic Monthly May 589/1 The other remark (wirelessed across the intervening wicker chairs and tables in one of those abrupt rhythmical lulls of the conversation which occur in crowded assemblies).
1915 Morning Post 10 Apr. 9/5 A French man of war, which had left on Sunday, was wirelessed to come back.
1922 C. C. Fraser Around World in Ten Days xv. 154 Just before retiring, Bob had wirelessed Panama of their safe passage through the mountains.
1959 A. Christie Cat among Pigeons iv. 52 Why haven't I heard—why didn't someone wireless it to the boat?
2004 J. Keegan Intelligence in War iv. 142 At eighteen minutes past six, Cradock wirelessed Canopus, 250 miles away. ‘I am now going to attack the enemy.’
Derivatives
ˈwirelessed adj. sent or received by wireless telegraphy or telephony; radioed.
ΚΠ
1915 Chambers's Jrnl. 18 Sept. 661/2 Then there is a rather large group of words that have come at us with a rush, and cannot be classified; such words as..‘wirelessing’ and ‘wirelessed’.
1918 Advocate of Peace Nov. 298/1 The official copy did not differ materially from the wirelessed copy.
1942 Winnipeg Free Press 1 May 15/2 It was Churchill..who by his wirelessed orders sent British warships off on fool's errands to the north.
2006 T. C. Campbell Wireless Writing in Age of Marconi ii. 54 The evocation of the wireless does not assume a clear-cut destination for wirelessed messages.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1825
v.1899