wireless meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

wireless

adj

UK /ˈwaɪə.ləs/ · US /ˈwaɪ(jə)ɹ.ləs/

Etymology From wire + -less.

Not having any wires.

Functioning without an external wired connection.

1 more example

Ozma, observing this action in her Magic Picture, at once caught up a similar instrument from a table beside her and held it to her own ear. The two instruments recorded the same delicate vibrations of sound and formed a wireless telephone, an invention of the Wizard. Those separated by any distance were thus enabled to converse together with perfect ease.1914, L. Frank Baum, Tik-Tok of Oz:

Synonyms: cordless
Antonyms: wired
Derived terms: wireless adapter, wireless broadband, wireless cable, wireless fidelity, wireless Internet, wireless modem, wireless network, wireless phone, wireless telegraph, wireless telegraphy, wireless telephony

noun

Etymology From wire + -less.

Usually The medium of radio communication.

Only about a hundred years ago, wireless was a new technology.
It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless. And results are all that concern me. […]”1935, George Goodchild, chapter 3, in Death on the Centre Court:

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Networking, Physical sciences, Sciences Usually A wireless connectivity to a computer network.

UK, Dated, Usually A radio set.

Let's switch on the wireless and listen to the news.
I heard you on my wireless back in '521979, Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes, Bruce Woolley, “Video Killed the Radio Star”:

1 more example

In the corner of that dark back room stood a black and white television—their one nod to modernity—and beside it, two old wirelesses and a headset that had not seen action since the TV arrived.2021, Otto English, Fake History, page 2:

Derived terms: coconut wireless, mukluk wireless, wirelessless, wireless operator

verb

Etymology From wire + -less.

Dated, Obsolete To send (a message) by wireless or radio.

At 3:30 A.M. a huge Zeppelin flew across the British battle line, wirelessing down to any Germans still to the westward the best way to get home.1919, William Charles Henry Wood, Flag and Fleet:
Just outside Piraeus we circled low over a capsized fishing-boat, a grisly wreck in the crystal blue water, and wirelessed a description of it to the mainland.1933, Robert Byron, First Russia, Then Tibet, Part II, Chapter 1:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.