wirelesses

1. 1
   noundatedBritish

   Plural of wireless.

   During the war, families gathered round their wirelesses to hear the evening news.

   The museum has a whole shelf of valve wirelesses in polished walnut cases.

   Note

   The plural counts radio sets, the household boxes of an older Britain; the radio medium and a network connection usually stay uncountable, so the plural points to the sets. It is a dated word, and radios is the everyday plural now. The spelling follows the rule for nouns in -ss, adding -es.

2. 2
   verbobsolete

   Third-person singular simple present of wireless. Dated: sends by radio.

   Note

   This dated verb belongs to the age of ships' captains and expeditions sending news home by radio. It takes the message as its object, with to or back to for the receiver: wirelesses a report to the office. Spelled the same as the plural for radio sets, it is told apart only by its place in the sentence.

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