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Rolodex

/ˈroʊləˌdɛks/
IPA guide

Other forms: Rolodexes

A Rolodex is an old-fashioned desktop organizational system, a contact list stored in a rotating card file. To find a phone number in a Rolodex, you turn a dial and flip through cards to find the contact's name.

There are still offices that rely on a Rolodex to keep track of names, numbers, and addresses. These physical devices contain cards with typed or handwritten contact information, organized alphabetically around a central tube that's manually controlled by a knob. These days, people sometimes use the term figuratively to describe a person who's extremely good at keeping track of information. Invented in 1956, the Rolodex got its name from the words rolling and index.

Definitions of Rolodex
  1. noun
    (trademark) a rotating file device for storing and organizing contact cards
    “a news reporter has to have a good Rolodex
    see moresee less
    type of:
    card catalog, card catalogue, card index
    an alphabetical listing of items (e.g., books in a library) with a separate card for each item
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