dial
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: The original meaning was 'sundial' and/or 'clock dial'; from Middle English diall, from Middle French dyal, from Latin diālis (“daily, concerning the day”), because of its use in telling the time of day, from Latin diēs (“day”). Compare Spanish dial and día (“day”).
Inflected forms:
form: dials
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: dials
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: dialing
pos: verb
tags: US
participle
present
form: dialling
pos: verb
tags: UK
participle
present
form: dialed
pos: verb
tags: US
participle
past
form: dialed
pos: verb
tags: US
past
form: dialled
pos: verb
tags: UK
participle
past
form: dialled
pos: verb
tags: UK
past
Senses:
gloss: A graduated, circular scale over which a needle moves to show a measurement (such as speed).
pos: noun
examples: Holonyms: (often holonymous) instrument, gauge
The dial on the dashboard showed the car was nearly out of gas.
gloss: A graduated, circular scale over which a needle moves to show a measurement (such as speed).
pos: noun
gloss: A sundial.
pos: noun
gloss: A panel on a radio etc showing wavelengths or channels; a knob that is turned to change the wavelength etc.
pos: noun
examples: Turn the dial to Radio 4: my favourite show is on!
gloss: A disk with finger holes on a telephone; used to select the number to be called.
pos: noun
examples: His hands were too fat to operate the dial on the telephone.
gloss: A person's face.
pos: noun
tags: Australia
UK
slang
examples: “Well, all I can say is that if yer don't take yer dial outer the road I'll bloomin' well take an' bounce a gibber off yer crust.”
At the sound of the old familiar voice he spun around with something of the agility of a cat on hot bricks, and I saw that his dial, usually cheerful, was contorted with anguish, as if he had swallowed a bad oyster.
Old Mona Lisa would have looked like a sour lemon beside Angel Day on the rare days she put a smile on her dial, laughing with her friends when some new man was in town.
gloss: A miner's compass.
pos: noun
gloss: To control or select something with a dial, or (figuratively) as if with a dial.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The lead guitarist for the rock band Spinal Tap dialed his amplifier to 11.
The president has recently dialled down the rhetoric.
gloss: To select a number, or to call someone, on a telephone, regardless of whether a physical dial is present.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: In an emergency dial 999.
gloss: To use a dial or a telephone.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Please be careful when dialling.
gloss: To initiate a connection to a remote computer service such as a database.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The application failed when attempting to dial the Postgres server, because there were too many open connections.
gloss: To use a dial-up modem to connect a personal computer to the Internet.
pos: verb
tags: dated
intransitive
examples: I always check my guestbook when I dial, just in case anyone saw my Web site.
Translations:
lang: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
word: ܚܘܿܓ݂ܬܵܐ
roman: ḥōḡtā
lang: Bulgarian
word: цифербла́т
roman: ciferblát
lang: Czech
word: ciferník
lang: Danish
word: urskive
lang: Finnish
word: asteikko
lang: French
word: cadran
lang: German
word: Zifferblatt
lang: Irish
word: diail
lang: Māori
word: mataine
lang: Polish
word: tarcza
lang: Romanian
word: cadran
lang: Romanian
word: scală
lang: Russian
word: цифербла́т
roman: ciferblát
lang: Spanish
word: dial
lang: Welsh
word: deial
lang: Bulgarian
word: пока́звам
roman: pokázvam