MLchartDataset catalogue

Party line

Term · Industrial and trades · MLC-T-IND-004151

A telephone circuit shared by two or more subscribers, where all users on the line can hear each other's conversations. This arrangement was common in early telephone systems to reduce infrastructure costs in rural areas. Each subscriber typically had a distinct ringing pattern to identify their incoming calls.

Table 1. Record
IdentifierMLC-T-IND-004151
FieldIndustrial and trades
SubjectElectrical engineering
TranslationsGerman: Gemeinschaftsleitung; Spanish: línea compartida; French: ligne partagée
Record as JSON 
{
  "id": "MLC-T-IND-004151",
  "term": "Party line",
  "field": "Industrial and trades",
  "definition": "A telephone circuit shared by two or more subscribers, where all users on the line can hear each other's conversations. This arrangement was common in early telephone systems to reduce infrastructure costs in rural areas. Each subscriber typically had a distinct ringing pattern to identify their incoming calls.",
  "subject": "Electrical engineering",
  "translations": {
    "de": "Gemeinschaftsleitung",
    "es": "línea compartida",
    "fr": "ligne partagée"
  },
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/industrial/party-line/"
}

Record 4,549 of 7,361 in Industrial and trades terminology (MLC-0113). Request the full dataset.