Learn English – What does “hardline phone” mean

meaningphrases

What is meant by hardline?

A commenter named Ed asked,

"I am very concerned as that was definitely our garage that slid into the Batavia. My mom has a hardline phone in the house but probally does not realize it is a cordless requiring power. She is 70 and alone. We have not heard from her since 9:15 this morning." — CNN

Best Answer

"Hardline" is a very rare term referring to the fact that the phone is a landline. Most people wouldn't understand it.. It's called a "hardline" phone because the line of the phone is fixed, unlike that of a mobile phone. Hence, the line is "hard", or somehow someone managed to see the connection. "Landline" is a much clearer term.

In context of the text you gave, the speaker is saying that the old lady, uses a cordless phone. But she doesn't know that it is actually a cordless and a landline, which meant that when the garage slid into the Batavia, the line was probably broken and she would have lost contact with the world, as her telephone no longer works.

It seems that "Hardline" was a popular term originally:

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But, perhaps Google Ngrams isn't really too reliable, although it does provide some fact.

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