- A character or symbol used to represent a sound, esp.
one used in phonography. - An instrument for the mechanical registration and
reproduction of audible sounds, as articulate speech, etc. It consists
of a rotating cylinder or disk covered with some material easily
indented, as tinfoil, wax, paraffin, etc., above which is a thin plate
carrying a stylus. As the plate vibrates under the influence of a
sound, the stylus makes minute indentations or undulations in the soft
material, and these, when the cylinder or disk is again turned, set the
plate in vibration, and reproduce the sound.
Definition
[ n.]