DIAL • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Dial

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/dˈaɪəl/ /daɪl/ Listen

noun

Dial n.

An instrument, formerly much used for showing the time of day from the shadow of a style or gnomon on a graduated arc or surface; esp., a sundial; but there are lunar and astral dials. The style or gnomon is usually parallel to the earth's axis, but the dial plate may be either horizontal or vertical.

The graduated face of a timepiece, on which the time of day is shown by pointers or hands.

A miner's compass.

Dial bird (Zool.), an Indian bird (Copsychus saularius), allied to the European robin. The name is also given to other related species.

Dial lock, a lock provided with one or more plates having numbers or letters upon them. These plates must be adjusted in a certain determined way before the lock can be operated.

Dial plate, the plane or disk of a dial or timepiece on which lines and figures for indicating the time are placed.

verb

Dial v. t. (past & past part. dialed or dialled; pres. part. dialing or dialling)

To measure with a dial. "Hours of that true time which is dialed in heaven."

(Mining) To survey with a dial.

See images of 'Dial'

Etymology of 'Dial'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Dial" Quotes from Famous Books

... the grizzled beard put his face into the fur around the eyepiece of the telescopic-'visor and twisted a dial. "You have good eyes, Miss Quinton," he complimented. "The fifth's inside the handling machine. One of the ...

— Ullr Uprising • Henry Beam Piper

... the trees, through which I had watched it. Up, up—It was broad daylight now. Behind me, I was conscious of a sharp, mosquito-like buzzing. I glanced 'round, and knew that it came from the clock. Even as I looked, it marked off an hour. The minute hand was moving 'round the dial, faster than an ordinary second-hand. The hour hand moved quickly from space to space. I had a numb sense of astonishment. A moment later, so it seemed, the two candles went out, almost together. I turned swiftly back to the window; for I had seen the shadow of the window-frames, ...

— The House on the Borderland • William Hope Hodgson

... stick pointing to the pole-star, in relation to one held horizontally. If, instead of two sticks, we cut out a piece of metal or wood to fill up the enclosed angle, we get the earliest form of the sun-dial, known as the gnomon, and according to the shape of the gnomon the latitude of a place is determined. Accordingly, it is not surprising to find that the invention of the gnomon is also attributed to Anaximander, ...

— The Story of Geographical Discovery - How the World Became Known • Joseph Jacobs

... quiet sea as trans, of silea bigong, and compares Goth. anasilan, to be still; Swed. dial, sil, still water between waterfalls.—Zachers ...

— Beowulf • James A. Harrison and Robert Sharp, eds.

... a lawyer's testimony to the moral qualities of his brethren. In the garden of Clement's Inn may still be seen the statue of a negro, supporting a sun-dial, upon which a legal wit ...

— A Book About Lawyers • John Cordy Jeaffreson

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