Baby Bell Definition

noun

Any of the regional telephone companies created in 1984 when AT&T was ordered to divest itself of its local telephone service operations.

American Heritage

(US, telecommunications, informal) Any of the Regional Bell Operating Companies resulting from the division of AT&T Corporation into a number of smaller companies in the 1980s as part of an antitrust agreement.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Baby Bell

Noun

Singular:

Baby Bell

Plural:

baby-bells

Origin of Baby Bell

From (Ma) Bell nickname for Bell Telephone Company after Alexander Graham Bell

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition