pocket dial

pocket dial

See also: pocket-dial

English

Alternative forms

• pocket-dial

Noun

pocket dial (plural pocket dials)

1. (idiomatic, informal) A situation in which one's cellphone makes a call from one's back pocket when its buttons are inadvertently pressed.
   • 2013, Jess McCann, Was It Something I Said?: The Answer To All Your Dating Dilemmas, Skirt! (2013), →ISBN, pages 7-8:

     But consider this first: How do you know that he really meant to call you and this wasn't just an accidental pocket dial?

   • 2013, Elle Fowler & Blair Fowler, Where Beauty Lies, St. Martin's Press (2013), →ISBN, page 60:

     It started off sounding like a pocket dial with incoherent noise and shouting […]

   • 2015, Abbi Glines, Hold On Tight, Simon Pulse (2015), →ISBN, pages 95-96:

     My phone started ringing. I reached over and grabbed it, surprised to see Dewayne's name on the screen. Why would he be calling me at midnight on a Saturday?

     "Hello?" I said, almost expecting this to be a pocket dial.

2. (obsolete) A portable sundial of small size.

Synonyms

• (accidental call): butt dial

Verb

pocket dial (third-person singular simple present pocket dials, present participle pocket dialing, simple past and past participle pocket dialed)

1. (idiomatic, informal) To accidentally make a call this way.
   • 2012, Dudley Rutherford, God Has an App for That: Discover God's Solutions for the Major Issues of Life, Gospel Light (2012), →ISBN, page 115:

     I answered and quickly realized that the person had “pocket dialed” me— his phone had called mine unintentionally.

   • 2015, Alecia Whitaker, The Road to You, Poppy (2015), →ISBN, unnumbered page:

     I laugh despite myself, wiping my face with my sleeve. "Dan, you called me."

     "Oh, Bird! Is that you?" he says, laughing. "I must have pocket dialed you."

   • 2015, Helen Kara, Creative Research Methods in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide, Policy Press (2015), →ISBN, page 32:

     The navigational information his smartphone provided was not always accurate, and at times he would accidentally 'pocket dial' participants at inappropriate hours.

Synonyms

• butt dial