Showing results for reel-to-reel. Search instead for reel+to+reel.

reel-to-reel

American

[reel-tuh-reel] / ˈril təˈril /

adjective

of or relating to an audio sound-equipment system or motion-picture camera or projector through which the tape or film must be threaded onto a take-up reel.

reel-to-reel British

adjective

(of magnetic tape) wound from one reel to another in use
(of a tape recorder) using magnetic tape wound from one reel to another, as opposed to cassettes

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of reel-to-reel

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Not long afterwards she was looking through an old briefcase when she came across an ageing, brown reel-to-reel tape-recording of her lullaby.

From BBC • Jan. 18, 2025

But UT maintained its own archive on 12,000 reel-to-reel tapes.

From Science Magazine • Mar. 20, 2024

You’re dealing with Sony U-matic reel-to-reel recorders and big heavy cameras and a scarcity of equipment and very little interest.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 21, 2024

Whitefoot and another young woman working for the school district went to a second-story storage area to locate some reel-to-reel films, she recalled.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 18, 2022

Even Dad's reel-to-reel answering machine's been sent back to Greenland.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023