English
dial
see also: Dial
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˈdaɪəɫ/
Noun

dial (plural dials)

  1. A graduated, circular scale over which a needle moves to show a measurement (such as speed).
  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.
  5. A disk with finger holes on a telephone; used to select the number to be called.
  6. (UK, AU, slang) A person's face. [from 19th c.]
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter IX:
      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 Translations
  • Russian: цифербла́т
Translations Translations Verb

dial (dials, present participle dialing; past and past participle dialed)

  1. (transitive) To control or select something with a dial, or (figuratively) as if with a dial.
    President Trump 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.
Related terms Translations
  • Russian: счи́тывать
Translations
Dial
Proper noun
  1. Surname


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