Cablegram

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of written transmission that uses electrical signals over wires to convey messages to a specified recipient
2. A message transmitted through telegraph wires using electrical impulses to reach its intended receiver
3. A communication sent by means of electrical signals over a wired telegraph system to deliver information quickly

Etymology: "Cablegram" is a blend of "cable" and "-gram," and the two halves carry very different histories. "Cable" came into English in the 14th century from Old French "cable," and originally meant a thick rope, especially one used on ships. Its later sense of a submarine telegraph line grew out of the 19th-century laying of undersea wires, which were wrapped in strands much like a rope, so the nautical term was simply transferred to the new technology. The "-gram" element comes from Greek "gramma," meaning something written or a letter of the alphabet. It appears in older English words such as "telegram," which the telegraph era produced, and it gives the sense of a message set down in writing. Joined to "cable," the suffix named a message carried across an undersea line, and the compound was a natural product of the telegraph age, when sending messages by wire was costly enough that each word counted.

Synonyms: telegram, cable