dial

noun

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. (Australia, UK, slang)A 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.”

   “Old Mona Lisa would have looked like a sour lemon beside Angel Day on the rare days she put a smile on her dial, laughing with her friends when some new man was in town.”

7. A miner's compass.

verb

1. (transitive)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. (transitive)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. (intransitive)To use a dial or a telephone.

   “Please be careful when dialling.”

4. (transitive)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. (dated, intransitive)To 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.”

name

1. A surname.