A dial tone (known in the British Isles as a dialling tone) is a telephony signal used to indicate that the telephone exchange is working, has recognized an off-hook, and is ready to accept a call. The tone stops when the first numeral is dialed. If no digits are forthcoming, the permanent signal procedure is invoked, often eliciting a special information tone.
Read more about Dial Tone: History, Variants, "Soft" Dial Tones
Famous quotes containing the words dial and/or tone:
“Nods from the Gilded pointers—
Nods from the Seconds slim—
Decades of Arrogance between
The Dial life—
And Him—”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
“...I ... believe that words can help us move or keep us paralyzed, and that our choices of language and verbal tone have something—a great deal—to do with how we live our lives and whom we end up speaking with and hearing; and that we can deflect words, by trivialization, of course, but also by ritualized respect, or we can let them enter our souls and mix with the juices of our minds.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)