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dial

Pronunciation: /dʌɪəl/

Translate dial | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of dial

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]
  • call (a telephone number) by turning a dial or using a keypad:she dialled 999 it took only a moment for Alistair to dial in the numbers on the telephone [no object]:company employees dial out from their office

Phrasal Verbs

dial something down

adjust the control on an electrical device so as to reduce the level of sound, light, heat, etc. produced:after 15 minutes of frustration, someone on the stand took the hint and dialled down the music
informal lessen the amount, intensity, or degree of a quality, factor, etc.:he’s dialled down the rage that seems to permeate his other novels having read this review I think I will dial down my expectations a little

dial in (or into)

access a computer system or service remotely via a telephone line:there’s no need to dial in to see if you have mail remote workers or travelling employees can dial into the data network

dial something in (or into)

indicate 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

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

dial up (or dial something up)

access a computer system or service remotely via a telephone line:dialling up each time we want to use the Internet will become a thing of the past people do not have to pay for phone line calls every time they dial up to the internet plans to enable customers to dial up videos from their living room

dial something up

adjust the control on an electrical device so as to increase the level of sound, light, heat, etc. produced:even with everything dialled up to full, the audio output level was only moderate at best
informal increase the amount, intensity, or degree of a quality, factor, etc.:the Raiders really dialled up the pressure in the second half

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).

dial in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of dial in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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