Dialname

• 1

  A surname.

dialnoun/ˈdaɪ.əl/

• 1

  A graduated, circular scale over which a needle moves to show a measurement (such as speed).

  • Holonyms: (often holonymous) instrument, gauge
  • The dial on the dashboard showed the car was nearly out of gas.
• 2

  A graduated, circular scale over which a needle moves to show a measurement (such as speed).

• 3

  A sundial.

• 4

  A panel on a radio etc showing wavelengths or channels; a knob that is turned to change the wavelength etc.

  • Turn the dial to Radio 4: my favourite show is on!
• 5

  A disk with finger holes on a telephone; used to select the number to be called.

  • His hands were too fat to operate the dial on the telephone.
• 6

  slangA person's face.

  • “Well, all I can say is that if yer don't take yer dial outer the road I'll bloomin' well take an' bounce a gibber off yer crust.”
  • 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.
• 7

  A miner's compass.

dialverb/ˈdaɪ.əl/

• 1

  To control or select something with a dial, or (figuratively) as if with a dial.

  • The lead guitarist for the rock band Spinal Tap dialed his amplifier to 11.
  • The president has recently dialled down the rhetoric.
• 2

  To select a number, or to call someone, on a telephone, regardless of whether a physical dial is present.

  • In an emergency dial 999.
• 3

  To use a dial or a telephone.

  • Please be careful when dialling.
• 4

  To initiate a connection to a remote computer service such as a database.

  • The application failed when attempting to dial the Postgres server, because there were too many open connections.
• 5

  datedTo use a dial-up modem to connect a personal computer to the Internet.

  • I always check my guestbook when I dial, just in case anyone saw my Web site.