dial

 
Pronunciation: /dʌɪəl/

noun

  • a face of a clock or watch that is marked to show units of time.
  • a flat plate with a scale and pointer for showing measurements of weight, volume, or pressure.
  • a disc with numbered finger holes on a telephone, rotated a particular distance for each digit of the number being called.
  • a plate or disc turned to select a setting on a radio, cooker, or other piece of equipment.
  • British informal a person’s face: he must be one of the new batch—I haven’t seen his dial before

verb (dials, dialling, dialled; US dials, dialing, dialed)

[with object]
  • 1call (a telephone number) by turning a dial or using a keypad: she dialled 999 [no object]: company employees dial out from their office
  • (dial something up) gain access to a service using a telephone line: plans to enable customers to dial up videos from their living room
  • 2indicate or regulate by means of a dial: you’re expected to dial in volume and tone settings
  • include or add: the car has a lot of understeer dialled into the suspension

Phrases

be (or get) dialled in

informal be or become so focused that one is able to perform to the best of one’s abilities: I didn’t really get dialled in until the final qualifying session

Origin:

Middle English (denoting a mariner's compass): from medieval Latin diale 'clock dial', based on Latin dies 'day'

Spelling rule

Double the l when adding endings which begin with a vowel to words which end in a vowel plus l (as in travel): (dials, dialling, dialled).