Telegraph \Tel"e*graph\, n. [Gr. ? far, far off (cf. Lith.
         toli)
   + -graph: cf. F. t['e]l['e]graphe. See Graphic.]
   An apparatus,
         or a process, for communicating intelligence
   rapidly
         between distant points, especially by means of
  
         preconcerted visible or audible signals representing words
         or
   ideas, or by means of words and signs, transmitted
         by
   electrical action.
   [1913 Webster]

   Note: The
         instruments used are classed as indicator,
         type-printing, symbol-printing, or chemical-printing
         telegraphs, according as the intelligence is given by
         the movements of a pointer or indicator, as in Cooke &
         Wheatstone's (the form commonly used in England), or by
         impressing, on a fillet of paper, letters from types,
         as in House's and Hughe's, or dots and marks from a
         sharp point moved by a magnet, as in Morse's, or
         symbols produced by electro-chemical action, as in
         Bain's. In the offices in the United States the
         recording instrument is now little used, the receiving
         operator reading by ear the combinations of long and
         short intervals of sound produced by the armature of an
         electro-magnet as it is put in motion by the opening
         and breaking of the circuit, which motion, in
         registering instruments, traces upon a ribbon of paper
         the lines and dots used to represent the letters of the
         alphabet. See Illustration in Appendix, and Morse code.
         [1913 Webster]

   Note: In 1837, Samuel F. B. Morse, an
         American artist,
         devised a working electric telegraph, based on a rough
         knowledge of electrical circuits, electromagnetic
         induction coils, and a scheme to encode alphabetic
         letters. He and his collaborators and backers
         campaigned for years before persuading the federal
         government to fund a demonstration. Finally, on May 24,
         1844, they sent the first official long-distance
         telegraphic message in Morse code, "What hath God
         wrought," through a copper wire strung between
         Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland. The phrase
         was taken from the Bible, Numbers 23:23. It had been
         suggested to Morse by Annie Ellworth, the young
         daughter of a friend. --Library of Congress, American
         Memories series
         (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may24.html).
         [PJC]

   Acoustic telegraph. See under Acoustic.


         
          Dial telegraph,
         a telegraph in which letters of the
    
          alphabet and numbers or other symbols are placed upon the

              border of a circular dial plate at each station, the
 
             apparatus being so arranged that the needle or index
         of
      the dial at the receiving station accurately
         copies the
      movements of that at the sending
         station.

   Electric telegraph, or {Electro-magnetic
         telegraph}, a
      telegraph in which an operator at one
         station causes words
      or signs to be made at another
         by means of a current of
      electricity, generated by a
         battery and transmitted over
      an intervening wire.


           Facsimile
         telegraph. See under Facsimile.

  
         Indicator
         telegraph. See under Indicator.

  
         Pan-telegraph, an
         electric telegraph by means of which a

              drawing or writing, as an autographic message, may be

              exactly reproduced at a distant station.

  
         Printing
         telegraph, an electric telegraph which
     
         automatically prints the message as it is received at a
   
           distant station, in letters, not signs.

   {Signal
         telegraph}, a telegraph in which preconcerted
     
         signals, made by a machine, or otherwise, at one station,
 
             are seen or heard and interpreted at another; a
         semaphore.
      

   Submarine telegraph cable, a
         telegraph cable laid under
      water to connect stations
         separated by a body of water.

   Telegraph cable, a
         telegraphic cable consisting of several
      conducting
         wires, inclosed by an insulating and protecting
     
         material, so as to bring the wires into compact compass
   
           for use on poles, or to form a strong cable impervious
         to
      water, to be laid under ground, as in a town or
         city, or
      under water, as in the ocean.
      [1913
         Webster]