Definition of "hookswitch"

hookswitch

noun
plural hookswitches
1. The spring-loaded button on a telephone that is depressed by the action of returning the handset to the cradle, thus terminating the call.
  Quotations
  At 4 or 5, he learned to dial by using the hookswitch like a telegraph key.
  2007 August 20, Douglas Martin, “Joybubbles, 58, Peter Pan of Phone Hackers, Dies”, in New York Times‎