phreaker

noun phreak·er \ ˈfrē-kər \

|Updated on: 26 May 2018

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of phreaker

: one who gains illegal access to the telephone system

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phreaking

play \ˈfrē-kiŋ\ noun

phreaker was our Word of the Day on 06/01/2015. Hear the podcast!

Recent Examples of phreaker from the Web

In fact, the friends’ first business venture together was marketing blue boxes to aspiring phreakers.

— laura yan, Popular Mechanics, "An Early Hacker Used a Cereal Box Whistle to Take Over Phone Lines," 20 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'phreaker.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Phreakers are people who specialize in attacks on the telephone system. The word, which became popular in the mid-1980s, is probably a combination of the words phone and freak. (Phreakers are also known as "phreaks" or "phone phreaks.") In the early days, phreakers whistled or used an instrument to mimic the tones the phone system then used to route calls and identify payment, especially as a way to avoid paying for an expensive call. Modern phreaking involves breaking into and manipulating the phone company's computer system, making it a specialized kind of hacking.