Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Dial

Di′al (dī′al), n. [LL. dialis daily, fr. L. dies day. See Deity.] 1. An instrument, formerly much used for showing the time of day from the shadow of a style or gnomon on a graduated arc or surface; esp., a sundial; but there are lunar and astral dials. The style or gnomon is usually parallel to the earth's axis, but the dial plate may be either horizontal or vertical.

2. The graduated face of a timepiece, on which the time of day is shown by pointers or hands.

3. A miner's compass.

Dial bird (Zoöl.), an Indian bird (Copsychus saularius), allied to the European robin. The name is also given to other related species. — Dial lock, a lock provided with one or more plates having numbers or letters upon them. These plates must be adjusted in a certain determined way before the lock can be operated. — Dial plate, the plane or disk of a dial or timepiece on which lines and figures for indicating the time are placed.

Di′al, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dialed or Dialled; p. pr. & vb. n. Dialing or Dialling.] 1. To measure with a dial.

Hours of that true time which is dialed in heaven. Talfourd.

2. (Mining) To survey with a dial. Raymond.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.