pay phone

noun

1. a public telephone requiring that the caller deposit coins or use a credit card to pay for a call.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pay phone¹

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

There is a pay phone at the Cedar Grove Lodge.

From Los Angeles Times

As Chesnoff talks in the “Jinx” episode, red carpet footage from the “All Good Things” premiere briefly appears, as do clips of Lehrman posing as Katie and making a call from a pay phone.

From New York Times

In October 2018, the West Covina Police Department got a pay phone call from a woman at an Arco gas station alleging Elwyn employees were abusing a man matching Newman’s description — a Black man with a disability.

From Los Angeles Times

“We were warned not to use public toilets or public drinking fountains or to swig a drink out of someone else’s soda-pop bottle or to get a chill or to play with strangers or to borrow books from the public library or to talk on a public pay phone or to buy food from a street vendor.... We were to keep our distance from anyone who looked sick or complained of any of polio’s telltale symptoms.”

From Los Angeles Times

On each visit she gave him a handful of change for the pay phone.

From Los Angeles Times