Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

dial

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Remove ads
See also: Dial and dial.

English

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”).

Pronunciation

Noun

dial (plural dials)

  1. A graduated, circular scale over which a needle moves to show a measurement (such as speed).
    Holonyms: (often holonymous) instrument, gauge
    The dial on the dashboard showed the car was nearly out of gas.
    1. Such a field as part of a clock face; (metonymic) the entire clock face.
      Comeronyms: hour hand, little hand; minute hand, big hand; second hand
  2. A sundial.
  3. A panel on a radio etc showing wavelengths or channels; a knob that is turned to change the wavelength etc.
    Turn the dial to Radio 4: my favourite show is on!
  4. A disk with finger holes on a telephone; used to select the number to be called.
    His hands were too fat to operate the dial on the telephone.
  5. (UK, Australia, slang) A person's face. [from 19th c.]
    • 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 90:
      “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.”
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter IX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
      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.
    • 2006, Alexis Wright, Carpentaria, Giramondo, published 2012, page 137:
      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.
  6. A miner's compass.

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

dial (third-person singular simple present dials, present participle (US) dialing or (UK) dialling, simple past and past participle (US) dialed or (UK) dialled)

  1. (transitive) To control or select something with a dial, or (figuratively) as if with a dial.
    The lead guitarist for the rock band Spinal Tap dialed his amplifier to 11.
    The president has recently dialled down the rhetoric.
  2. (transitive) To select a number, or to call someone, on a telephone, regardless of whether a physical dial is present.
    In an emergency dial 999.
  3. (intransitive) To use a dial or a telephone.
    Please be careful when dialling.
  4. (transitive) To initiate a connection to a remote computer service such as a database.
    The application failed when attempting to dial the Postgres server, because there were too many open connections.
  5. (intransitive, dated) To use a dial-up modem to connect a personal computer to the Internet.
    I always check my guestbook when I dial, just in case anyone saw my Web site.

Usage notes

  • The spellings dialing and dialed are more common in the US. Dialling and dialled are more common elsewhere.
  • Originally, telephones had rotary dials, a technology that had become obsolete by the 1980s and replaced with numeric keypads, and later with touchscreen controls. However, the term "dial" has persisted to refer to the act of placing a telephone call by manually inputting a telephone number.

Translations

Derived terms

derived from noun or verb

Anagrams

Remove ads

Cornish

Etymology

From Middle Cornish dyal, from Proto-Brythonic *diɣal, from Proto-Celtic *dīgalā. Cognate with Breton and Welsh dial, Irish díoghail, Manx jeeyl, and Scottish Gaelic dìoghail.

Noun

dial m (uncountable)

  1. revenge, retribution
    Synonym: venjyans

Derived terms

  • diala (“avenge, get revenge”, verb)

Verb

dial

  1. inflection of diala:
    1. third-person singular present indicative/future indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Mutation

More information unmutated, soft ...

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Cornish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Remove ads

North Frisian

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *dailą.

Noun

dial n or m (plural dialen) (Föhr-Amrum)

  1. part, portion
    Synonym: part
  2. piece, item
Usage notes
  • Originally neuter in both senses. In sense 1 now predominantly masculine after German Teil.
Alternative forms

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *dailijaną. Related with the noun above.

Verb

dial

  1. (Föhr-Amrum) to divide
Conjugation
Conjugation of dial (Föhr-Amrum dialect)
More information infinitive I, infinitive II ...
Alternative forms

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈdjal/ [ˈd̪jal], /ˈdajal/ [ˈd̪a.jal], /ˈdaial/ [ˈd̪ai̯.al]
  • Rhymes: -al, -ajal, -aial
  • Syllabification: dial

Noun

dial m (plural diales)

  1. dial

Further reading

Welsh

Etymology

From Middle Welsh dial, from Old Welsh digal, from Proto-Brythonic *diɣal, from Proto-Celtic *dī-galā. Cognate with Cornish dial, Breton dial and Old Irish dígal and its modern derivatives.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈdiː.al/
  • Rhymes: -iːal

Noun

dial m (plural dialau or dialon)

  1. revenge, vengeance
    Synonym: dialedd

Derived terms

  • dialgar (“vengeful”, adjective)

Verb

dial (first-person singular present dialaf)

  1. to avenge, to get one's own back
    Synonyms: talu'n ôl, talu'r pwyth yn ôl

Usage notes

  • This verb is followed by the preposition ar.

Conjugation

More information singular, plural ...
More information inflected colloquial forms, singular ...

Note: All other forms are periphrastic, as usual in colloquial Welsh.

Derived terms

  • dialedd (“vengence, nemesis”)
  • dialgar (“vengeful”)
  • dialwr (“avenger”)
  • dialydd (“avenger”)

Mutation

More information radical, soft ...

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “dial”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
Remove ads

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads