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phonograph

 - 3 dictionary results

pho⋅no⋅graph

[foh-nuh-graf, -grahf]
–noun
any sound-reproducing machine using records in the form of cylinders or discs.

Origin:
1825–35 in sense “phonogram”; 1877 for the “talking phonograph” invented by T. A. Edison; phono- + -graph
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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pho·no·graph   (fō'nə-grāf')   
n.  A machine that reproduces sound by means of a stylus in contact with a grooved rotating disk.
pho'no·graph'ic adj., pho'no·graph'i·cal·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

phonograph 
1835, "character representing a sound," lit. "writer of sounds," from Gk. phono- "sound" + -graphos "writing, writer." Phonographic (1840) originally was in ref. to shorthand; meaning "of an instrument that produces sounds from records" (talking phonograph, invented by Thomas A. Edison in 1877) it is attested from 1878. The recording made from it at first was called a phonogram (1879).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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