dial
English edit
Etymology edit
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 edit
Noun edit
dial (plural dials)
- A graduated, circular scale over which a needle moves to show a measurement (such as speed).
- The dial on the dashboard showed the car was nearly out of gas.
- A clock face.
- A sundial.
- 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!
- 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.
- (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.
- A miner's compass.
Translations edit
graduated, circular scale over which a needle moves
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clock face — see clock face
sundial — see sundial
panel on a radio; knob that is turned to change the wavelength
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disk with finger holes on a telephone
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person's face
- 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 edit
dial (third-person singular simple present dials, present participle (US) dialing or dialling, simple past and past participle (US) dialed or dialled)
- (transitive) To control or select something with a dial, or (figuratively) as if with a dial.
- The president has recently dialled down the rhetoric.
- (transitive) To select a number, or to call someone, on a telephone.
- In an emergency dial 999.
- (intransitive) To use a dial or a telephone.
- Please be careful when dialling.
Usage notes edit
- The spellings Dialing and dialed are more common in the US. Dialling and dialled are more common elsewhere.
Translations edit
to measure or indicate something with a dial
to select a number, or to call someone, on a telephone
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Derived terms edit
- butt dial
- compass dial
- dead dial
- dial-a-joke
- dial-a-ride
- dial-a-ride problem
- dial-around
- dial-a-yield
- dial back
- dial down
- dial down a notch
- dialer (US)
- dial gauge
- dial-in
- dial in
- dial indicator
- dial into
- dial it in
- dial lock
- dial number
- dial tone
- dial up
- dial-up
- direct-dial
- don't touch that dial
- drunk dial
- mine dial
- miner's dial
- misdial
- move the dial
- pocket-dial
- pocket dial
- radium dial
- redial
- reset the dial
- rotary-dial
- rotary dial
- shadow dial
- shift the dial
- speed dial
- speed-dial
- tide dial
- video dial tone
- war-dial
Anagrams edit
Spanish edit
Noun edit
dial m (plural diales)
Further reading edit
- “dial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Welsh edit
Etymology edit
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 edit
Noun edit
dial m (plural dialau or dialon)
Verb edit
dial (first-person singular present dialaf)
- to avenge, to get one's own back
- Synonyms: talu'n ôl, talu'r pwyth yn ôl
Usage notes edit
- This verb is followed by the preposition ar.
Conjugation edit
Conjugation (literary)
singular | plural | impersonal | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
first | second | third | first | second | third | |||
present indicative/future | dialaf | dieli | dial, diala | dialwn | dielwch, dialwch | dialant | dielir | |
imperfect (indicative/subjunctive)/ conditional |
dialwn | dialit | dialai | dialem | dialech | dialent | dielid | |
preterite | dielais | dielaist | dialodd | dialasom | dialasoch | dialasant | dialwyd | |
pluperfect | dialaswn | dialasit | dialasai | dialasem | dialasech | dialasent | dialasid, dialesid | |
present subjunctive | dialwyf | dielych | dialo | dialom | dialoch | dialont | dialer | |
imperative | — | dial, diala | dialed | dialwn | dielwch, dialwch | dialent | dialer | |
verbal noun | dial | |||||||
verbal adjectives | dialedig dialadwy |
Conjugation (colloquial)
Inflected colloquial forms | singular | plural | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
first | second | third | first | second | third | |
future | diala i, dialaf i | diali di | dialith o/e/hi, dialiff e/hi | dialwn ni | dialwch chi | dialan nhw |
conditional | dialwn i, dialswn i | dialet ti, dialset ti | dialai fo/fe/hi, dialsai fo/fe/hi | dialen ni, dialsen ni | dialech chi, dialsech chi | dialen nhw, dialsen nhw |
preterite | dialais i, diales i | dialaist ti, dialest ti | dialodd o/e/hi | dialon ni | dialoch chi | dialon nhw |
imperative | — | diala | — | — | dialwch | — |
Note: All other forms are periphrastic, as usual in colloquial Welsh. |
Derived terms edit
Mutation edit
Welsh mutation | |||
---|---|---|---|
radical | soft | nasal | aspirate |
dial | ddial | nial | unchanged |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
Further reading edit
- 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