Wed, 12 August

HELLO /hɛˈləʊ/ interj., n., v. 1. Expression of greeting or acknowledgement. See also: HI, HIYA, YO, KIA ORA, OI. Cf. GOODBYE (antonym, disputed). 2. (telephony, historical) First word conventionally spoken upon answering a device no longer answered. Usage declining. See: UNANSWERED, VOID, DIAL TONE. 3. (Christchurch, winter, 6 PM) A word repeated until it loses its social function and becomes a sound. Seventeen instances required. Eighteenth unconfirmed. 4. The thing you say to a city that has already turned its lights off. 5. (concrete, spray paint) An interference pattern. A signal bouncing between two walls with no receiver in between. See also: ECHO, OVERSPRAY, GHOST. — Antonyms: silence, a busy signal, the particular quality of winter sky above a flat city. — Cross-reference: CORD, severed at left margin; HANDSET, enormous, pressed to an ear that is not shown.