dial tone

noun

1. (in a telephone) a tone that indicates the line is ready for dialing.

Word History and Origins

Origin of dial tone¹

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Nearby, museum archivist Claire Violet is on her back beneath a table, trying to figure out why she can’t get a dial tone from a phone at her work station.

From Seattle Times

The Whidbey Island phone had a dial tone, so I pressed buttons until the sounds stopped.

From Seattle Times

“The bank took my car. I knew the electricity would be next, and I had no idea how I would pay my rent … I picked up the phone and, miraculously, the dial tone came on, and before they cut it off again, I started calling clubs where I had worked. I had forgotten that if you don’t do things for yourself, no one will do them for you.”

From Washington Post

I’m excited to try Busy Signal and Dial Tone, a new line of wines from pinot noir maestro Adam Lee, the founder of Siduri and Clarice wineries.

From Washington Post

To wit: that Finney, while imprisoned in a soundproof bunker beneath the Grabber’s home, somehow discovers a rip, of sorts, in the veil between this world and the spirit realm, via a broken telephone whose severed wires should, at least according to the laws of electricity, not produce a dial tone.

From Washington Post