TV
- 1Abbreviation of television.
There's nothing good on TV tonight, so let's go for a walk.
Many hotel rooms now come with flat-screen TVs mounted on the wall.
Note
The set can be counted, as in a new TV or two TVs, but the medium and its programs cannot: people watch TV and see things on TV, with no article. In speech it is the usual word, and television sounds more formal beside it. The spelling with stops, T.V., also occurs, as in the 1985 song title The Sun Always Shines on T.V.
- 2Abbreviation of transvestite.
The newsletter printed letters from TVs across the country who dressed only in private.
As a TV, she kept a separate wardrobe and a separate name for weekends.
Note
It served as shorthand in diaries, personal ads and magazines from the 1970s to the 1990s, often beside TS and queen. Like transvestite in its everyday sense, it now sounds dated, so it is best kept for quoting or for people who use it of themselves. The plural is TVs, though TV's also appears.
Less common meanings
- 3Initialism of Taylor's Version.
- 4Initialism of tidal volume.
Practice
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Origin
An abbreviation of television.