Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A simple information retrieval service offered by the BBC since 1974, whereby "pages" of information are delivered sequentially to a television set and the viewer can move between them.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Explained as a phonetic rendition of see facts. An earlier electromechanical system was called BEEBFAX: see Beeb and fax.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Ceefax.

Examples

  • Now, don't go confusing Teletext with Ceefax, which is still up and running until the complete analogue switchoff arrives in 2012.

    British Blogs 2009

  • Pete Clifton is in charge of possibly the most visited news website in the world and is responsible for other BBC services such as Ceefax, interactive services and broadband services.

    Archive 2006-11-01 David Maxwell 2006

  • Pete Clifton is in charge of possibly the most visited news website in the world and is responsible for other BBC services such as Ceefax, interactive services and broadband services.

    Advertising Auntie? David Maxwell 2006

  • Down the years Ceefax has provided it, the Open University has provided it, Ulysses 31 has provided it.

    England v Romania – Live! | Tom Lutz 2011

  • But waiting for my connection at Heathrow I saw the Ceefax headlines that Trescothick was flying home suffering from a stress-related illness.

    Alastair Cook: Who wouldn't want to captain England's Test team? 2011

  • But just as millions of users started to look for the Ceefax button on their remote controls, the site was back.

    BBC website goes down 2011

  • And when he taught at Colston's in Bristol a classroom of 10-year-olds were amazed when Mr Robinson's lesson was interrupted by his wife – who had just read on Ceefax that he had been recalled for England against South Africa in 1995.

    Andy Robinson: Of course Scotland can win. I never contemplate losing | Donald McRae 2011

  • From a 1999 broadcast, CosmoBells' mate Slothy has ripped around two hours worth of very enjoyable Ceefax music and is sharing it.

    More Ceefax! X-Y-Z-Cosmonaut 2010

  • Most or, indeed, possibly all of these tracks have been used on British and European test transmissions way back when the testcard, closedown and pages from Ceefax were a normal part of everyday television life oooooh the good old days, eh?

    Archive 2010-01-01 X-Y-Z-Cosmonaut 2010

  • On 23 September of that year a trial experiment began for both systems culminating in the Autumn of 1976, with the government giving the green light to start full transmissions of both Ceefax and Oracle.

    Buziaulane Jak Boumans 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.