In a general sense, the name “telephone” applies to any instrument or apparatus which transmits sound beyond the limits of ordinary audibility. But, since the recent discoveries in telephony, tlie name is technically and primarily restricted to an instrument or device which transmits sound by means of electricity and wires similar to telegraphic wires. In a secondary sense, however, being the sense in which it is most commonly understood, the word “telephone” constitutes a generic term, having reference generally to the art of telephony as an institution , but more particularly to the apparatus, as an entirety, ordinarily used in the transmission , as well as iu the reception, of telephouic messages. Hockett v. State, 105 Ind. 201, 5 N. E. 178, 55 Am. Itep. 201.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
