rotary dials
Spinning number wheels
Rotary dials were the circular input devices on telephones before push-button keypads, operated by rotating a finger wheel to each digit and releasing it.
The mechanism converted rotation into electrical pulses.
Though obsolete, the phrase dial a number persists from this era, as does dial tone.
Someone who dials back expectations is reducing them, like returning the dial toward zero.
Telephone routing panel
- operatorOne who works machinery
- receiverOne who accepts transmission
- handsetHeld telephone component
- landlineStationary wired telephone
corded · number plate · exchange · party line · long-distance · area code · busy signal · extension
No longer available
- supersededReplaced by something newer
- outmodedNo longer in fashion
- antiquatedOld and outdated
- deprecatedFormally advised against using
touch-tone · pushbutton · digital · smartphone · phased out · legacy · defunct · anachronistic
Evoking recent past
- vintageQuality from past eras
- antiqueOld valued collectible
- classicOf lasting excellence
- midcenturyAround the 1950s
memories · bygone · heirloom · collectible · analog · old-fashioned · reminisce · keepsake
switchboard
Telephone routing panel
landline · corded · number plate · exchange · party line · long-distance · area code · busy signal · extension · phonebook
discontinued
No longer available
- supersededReplaced by something newer
- outmodedNo longer in fashion
- antiquatedOld and outdated
deprecated · touch-tone · pushbutton · digital · smartphone · phased out · legacy · defunct · anachronistic · museum piece
retro
Evoking recent past
midcentury · memories · bygone · heirloom · collectible · analog · old-fashioned · reminisce · keepsake · grandparents
governor
State's chief executive
switching · impulse · calibration · clockwork
- spinnersspinning top, tops, top, gyroscopes, fidget spinner
rotary, dials, dial, rotate, rotation, rotational, rotating, rotator, rotators