Wiktionary

dial

See also: Dial and dial.

English edit

 
Detail of a dial (graduated circular scale with a needle)

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

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈdaɪ.əl/, [ˈdaɪ.əɫ]
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪəl
  • Hyphenation: di‧al

Noun edit

dial (plural dials)

 
A dial (disk with finger holes) on a Swiss telephone
  1. 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.
  2. A clock face.
  3. A sundial.
  4. 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!
  5. 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.
  6. (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.
  7. A miner's compass.

Translations edit

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

Verb edit

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

  1. (transitive) To control or select something with a dial, or (figuratively) as if with a dial.
    The president has recently dialled down the rhetoric.
  2. (transitive) To select a number, or to call someone, on a telephone.
    In an emergency dial 999.
  3. (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

Derived terms edit

Anagrams edit

Spanish edit

Noun edit

dial m (plural diales)

  1. dial

Further reading edit

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)

  1. revenge, vengeance
    Synonym: dialedd

Verb edit

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 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
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