9-1-1 Definition

nīnwunwun
symbol
In the U.S., Canada, and some other countries, a three-digit telephone number that may be dialed in an emergency: it connects to a dispatcher who notifies the police, the fire department, or medical personnel as appropriate.
Webster's New World
pronoun

(US, Canada) The telephone number used to call the police or other emergency services.

Wiktionary
noun
By extension, an emergency phone call.
Wiktionary
By genericization, an emergency.
Wiktionary

Origin of 9-1-1

  • When the 9-1-1 system was originally introduced, it was advertised as the "nine-eleven" service. The advertising was changed when concerns were expressed that some types of callers, most notably smaller children, tend to be very literal, and might waste emergency response time trying to find a non-existent "eleven" key on their telephones. Therefore, all references to the telephone number 9-1-1 are now always made as "nine-one-one", and never as "nine-eleven", according to standards outlined by the National Emergency Number Association (NENA). Some newspapers and other media require that references to the phone number be formatted as 9-1-1, also a suggested standard by NENA.

    From Wiktionary

9-1-1 Sentence Examples

  • He holds that i-7, 9-1 I, 5-18, belong to an original source, which was written in the reign of Vespasian and represents the earlier stage of the Neronic myth.

  • Parker had recently beaten Barnett 9-1 at 9-ball, and Andy still looked like he was suffering the aftershocks of that encounter.

  • You should be familiar with the standard international phonetic alphabet as shown in Table 9-1.

Words Near 9-1-1 in the Dictionary