DIAL (dialled, dialling)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: dialled    , dialling   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dial mean? 

• DIAL (noun)
  The noun DIAL has 4 senses:

1. the face of a timepiece; graduated to show the hours

2. the control on a radio or television set that is used for tuning

3. the circular graduated indicator on various measuring instruments

4. a disc on a telephone that is rotated a fixed distance for each number called

  Familiarity information: DIAL used as a noun is uncommon.

• DIAL (verb)
  The verb DIAL has 2 senses:

1. operate a dial to select a telephone number

2. choose by means of a dial

  Familiarity information: DIAL used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DIAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The face of a timepiece; graduated to show the hours

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("dial" is a kind of...):

face (the side upon which the use of a thing depends (usually the most prominent surface of an object))

Holonyms ("dial" is a part of...):

horologe; timekeeper; timepiece (a measuring instrument or device for keeping time)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The control on a radio or television set that is used for tuning

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("dial" is a kind of...):

control; controller (a mechanism that controls the operation of a machine)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The circular graduated indicator on various measuring instruments

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("dial" is a kind of...):

indicator (a device for showing the operating condition of some system)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A disc on a telephone that is rotated a fixed distance for each number called

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

dial; telephone dial

Hypernyms ("dial" is a kind of...):

selector; selector switch (a switch that is used to select among alternatives)

Meronyms (parts of "dial"):

finger hole (a hole for inserting a finger)

Holonyms ("dial" is a part of...):

dial phone; dial telephone (a telephone with a dial for registering the number to be called)

Derivation:

dial (choose by means of a dial)

dial (operate a dial to select a telephone number)

• DIAL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they dial    ... he / she / it dials   
Past simple: dialed    / dialled   
Past participle: dialed    / dialled   
-ing form: dialing    / dialling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Operate a dial to select a telephone number

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

You must take the receiver off the hook before you dial

Hypernyms (to "dial" is one way to...):

control; operate (handle and cause to function)

Domain category:

telephone; telephony (transmitting speech at a distance)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

dial (a disc on a telephone that is rotated a fixed distance for each number called)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Choose by means of a dial

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

dial a telephone number

Hypernyms (to "dial" is one way to...):

choose; pick out; select; take (pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

dial (a disc on a telephone that is rotated a fixed distance for each number called)

 Context examples 

The patient turns a dial to the correct day and the correct dose is made available and the container indicates that the dose has been removed.

(Dialpack, NCI Thesaurus)

The sequence of numbers or characters, that when dialed, connects to a particular mobile telephone.

(Mobile Telephone Number, NCI Thesaurus)

Disability Assessment for Dementia (DAD) Find and dial a telephone number correctly?

(DAD - Find and Dial a Telephone Number Correctly, NCI Thesaurus)

Sometimes you need to remember information for only a short period of time―like when dialing a phone number.

(Recalling temporary memories, NIH)

These varying conditions have given MAVEN the opportunity to observe Mars’ atmospheric escape getting cranked up and dialed down.

(Mars Mission Sheds Light on Habitability of Distant Planets, NASA)

The sequence of numbers or characters, that when dialed, connects to a particular cellular telephone.

(Cellular Telephone Number, NCI Thesaurus)

Their study also found that manually dialing, texting or browsing the web on a phone while driving doubled a teen’s crash risk.

(Reaching for objects while driving may raise teen crash risk nearly sevenfold, National Institutes of Health)

There was an astronomer, who had undertaken to place a sun-dial upon the great weathercock on the town-house, by adjusting the annual and diurnal motions of the earth and sun, so as to answer and coincide with all accidental turnings of the wind.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Such dips occur at wavelengths between 65 megahertz (MHz) and 95 MHz, overlapping with some of the most widely used frequencies on the FM radio dial, as well as booming radio waves emanating naturally from the Milky Way galaxy.

(Astronomers detect ancient signal from first stars in universe, National Science Foundation)

The sheep are feeding there, when I kneel up, early in the morning, in my little bed in a closet within my mother's room, to look out at it; and I see the red light shining on the sun-dial, and think within myself, Is the sun-dial glad, I wonder, that it can tell the time again?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)