n. [ Gr. &unr_; a thing drawn or written (fr. &unr_; write) + -phone, as in telephone. Originally a trademark. ] An instrument for recording, preserving, and reproducing sounds, the record being a tracing of a phonautograph etched in some solid material. Reproduction is accomplished by means of a system attached to an elastic diaphragm. This older term is almost completely replaced for modern devices by the word phonograph (or hi-fi), and technological changes have made the term sound antiquated, and it is usually used to refer to older non-electronic versions of the phonograph. [ obsolescent ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]