dial

dial

See also: Dial and dial.

English

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

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

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈdaɪ.əl/, [ˈdaɪ.əɫ]

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪəl
• Hyphenation: di‧al

Noun

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.]
   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 9, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:

     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 2012, p. 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

graduated, circular scale over which a needle moves

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܚܘܿܓ݂ܬܵܐ‎ f (ḥoḡtā) Bulgarian: циферблат m (ciferblat) Czech: ciferník (cs) m Danish: urskive (da) c (clock) Finnish: asteikko (fi) French: cadran (fr) m German: Zifferblatt (de) n Maori: mataine Polish: tarcza (pl) f Romanian: cadran (ro) n, scală (ro) f Russian: цифербла́т (ru) m (ciferblát) Welsh: deial m, deialau m pl

clock face — see clock face

sundial — see sundial

panel on a radio; knob that is turned to change the wavelength

Arabic: مُؤَشِّر‎ m (muʾaššir) Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܚܘܿܓ݂ܬܵܐ‎ f (ḥoḡtā) Chinese: Mandarin: 刻度盤／刻度盘 (zh) (kèdùpán) Danish: kanalvælger c Dutch: kanaalkiezer (nl) m or f Finnish: kanavanvalitsin Romanian: scală (ro) Russian: цифербла́т (ru) (ciferblát) Welsh: deial m, deialau m pl

disk with finger holes on a telephone

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܚܘܿܓ݂ܬܵܐ‎ f (ḥoḡtā) Bulgarian: телефонна шайба (telefonna šajba) Chinese: Mandarin: 撥號盤／拨号盘 (zh) (bōhàopán) Czech: rotační číselnice f Danish: drejeskive c Finnish: valintalevy French: cadran (fr) m German: Wählscheibe (de) f Hebrew: חוּגָה‎ (he) f (khugá) Italian: disco combinatore m Japanese: ダイヤル (daiyaru) Polish: tarcza (pl) f Russian: диск (ru) m (disk), набо́рный диск (nabórnyj disk)

person's face

Finnish: naamataulu (fi) French: bouille (fr) f, tronche (fr) f Russian: табло́ (ru) n (tabló)

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 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

• The spellings Dialing and dialed are more common in the US. Dialling and dialled are more common elsewhere.

Translations

To measure or indicate something with a dial

Bulgarian: отчитам (bg) (otčitam) Russian: счи́тывать (ru) impf (sčítyvatʹ), счита́ть (ru) pf (sčitátʹ)

To select a number, or to call someone, on a telephone

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܚܲܘܸܓ݂‎ (ḥawwiḡ) Bulgarian: набирам (bg) (nabiram) Chinese: Mandarin: 撥／拨 (zh) (bō), 打 (zh) (dǎ) (電話 / 电话) Danish: ringe (da) Finnish: soittaa (fi) French: composer (fr), signaler (fr) German: wählen (de) Hebrew: חייג \\ חִיֵּג‎ (khiyeg) Hindi: मिलाना (hi) (milānā) Hungarian: tárcsáz (hu) Japanese: (電話を) かける (ja) (kakeru) Korean: (전화를) 걸다 ((jeonhwareul) geolda) Polish: wykręcić (pl), wybrać (pl) Portuguese: discar (pt) Romanian: forma (ro) Russian: набира́ть (ru) impf (nabirátʹ), набра́ть (ru) pf (nabrátʹ), звони́ть (ru) impf (zvonítʹ), позвони́ть (ru) pf (pozvonítʹ) Scottish Gaelic: comharraich Spanish: marcar (es) Swedish: slå (sv) Turkish: aramak (tr) Urdu: ملانا‎ (milānā) Vietnamese: quay (vi)

То read (a clock)

Bulgarian: показвам (bg) (pokazvam)

Derived terms

• butt dial
• compass dial
• dead dial
• 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 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
• rotary dial
• rotary-dial
• speed dial
• speed-dial
• tide dial
• video dial tone
• war-dial

 

Anagrams

• Dail, Dali, Dalí, dali, laid

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Spanish

Noun

dial m (plural diales)

1. dial

Further reading

• “dial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

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Welsh

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪ.al/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈdiː.al/, /ˈdi.al/

Noun

dial m (plural dialau or dialon)

1. revenge

Derived terms

• dialgar (“vengeful”)

Mutation

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

• 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