| 释义 |
▪ I. dial, n.1|ˈdaɪəl|
Also 5 dyale, dyel, 5–7 dyal(l, diall.
[Presumably a derivative of L. dies a day, through a med.L. adj. diāl-is daily (repr. in Du Cange by diāle = diurnāle ‘as much land as could be ploughed in a day’, and diāliter adv. daily.) Outside Eng., however, dial is known only from a single OF. instance in Froissart, in which the dyal in clockwork is said to be ‘the daily wheel (roe journal) which makes a revolution once in a day, even as the sun makes a single turn round the earth in a natural day’. This would answer to a med.L. rota diālis: the transition from ‘diurnal wheel’ to ‘diurnal circle’ is easy. But more evidence is wanted.]
1. An instrument serving to tell the hour of the day, by means of the sun's shadow upon a graduated surface; a sun-dial.
1430Lydg. Chron. Troy. i. v, For by the dyal the hour they gan to marke. c1440Promp. Parv. 120 Dyale, or dyel or an horlege (dial or diholf of an horlage). 1530Palsgr. 213/2 Diall to knowe the houres by the course of the sonne, quadrant. 1535Coverdale 2 Kings xx. 11 The shadowe wente backe ten degrees in Achas Dyall. 1552Huloet, Diall set vpon a chymney or wall to knowe what is a clocke by the sunne, sciotericon. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. v. 24 To carue out Dialls queintly, point by point, Thereby to see the Minutes how they runne. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler 39 Where clocks will stand, and Dials have no light. 1719Young Busiris v. i, How, like the dial's tardy-moving shade, Day after day slides from us unperceiv'd. 1720Gay Poems (1745) I. 151 Here to sev'n streets sev'n dials count the day. 1799Vince Astron. iv. (1810) 56 A clock or watch may..be regulated by a good dial. 1878B. Taylor Deukalion i. vi. 50 The Hour shall miss its place, And the shadow recede on the dial's face.
b. fig.1513Douglas æneis i. Prol. 347 Venerable Chaucer..Hevinlie trumpat, horleige and reguleir..condit, and diall. 1854J. Forbes Tour Mt. Blanc Introd. 11 The stately march of the glacier is yet a stage more slow, months and even years are but the units of division of its dial.
2. a. With qualifying words descriptive of the various forms of the sun-dial: e.g. declining dial, horizontal dial, primary dial, reflecting dial, universal dial, vertical dial (etc.) dial.
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 373/1 Pendant Dials which are hung by the hand..commonly called Equinoctial or Universal Dials, are most used by Sea-Men and Travellers that oft shift Latitudes. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Erect declining Dials, Dials whose Planes are not directly opposite to any of the Four Cardinal Points, but decline from the Meridian or prime Vertical Circle. 1782Archæologia VI. 143 Vitruvius says they had horizontal, vertical, and declining dials. 1819P. Nicholson Architect. Dict. I. 332 Deinclining Dials, such as both decline and incline, or recline.
b. With various qualifying words, as night-dial or nocturnal dial (= moon-dial), ring-dial, sun-dial.
1605Camden Rem. 165 Which bare a Sunne-diall and the Sun setting. 1667Phil. Trans. II. 435 A large Ring-Dial..having a Box with a Compass or Needle. 1727–51Chambers Cycl., Moon-Dial or Lunar Dial, is that which shews the hour of the night by means of the light, or shadow, of the moon. Ibid., Nocturnal or Night-Dial, is that which shews the hours of the night. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 66 The neighbours could tell the hour by his movements as accurately as by a sun dial.
†3. A timepiece or chronometer of any kind; a clock or watch. Obs. Also with qualifying words as water-dial, etc.
1552Huloet, Diall, clepsydra, horologium. 1580Baret Alv. D 651 A diall measuring houres by running of the water..clepsydra. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xvii. 19 b, The Ambassadour sent his presents..one small clocke or dyall. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 20 And then he drew a diall from his poake, And..Sayes, very wisely, it is ten a clocke. 1611Cotgr., Horloge d'eau, a Clepsydra, or water Dyall. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xli. 329 One of those accurate Dyals that go with a Pendulum. 1662Gerbier Princ. 40 Motions..no more to be discovered, than that of the Hand of a Diall. 1676North's Plutarch 765 note, Like a water Diall or Clepsydra.
b. fig.1556J. Jones (title), The Dial of Agues. 1557North (title), Gueuara's Diall of Princes. 1582Bentley Mon. Matrones Pref. B j b, A delectable diall for to direct you to true deuotion. c1600in C. B. Markham Fighting Veres (1888) 345 He was the very dial of the army, by which we knew when we should fight.
4. The face of a clock or watch; the surface which bears the graduations and figures marking the hours, etc. Cf. dial-plate.
1575Laneham Let. (1871) 54 Too Dyallz ny vnto the battilments ar set aloft vpon too of the sidez of Cezarz toour..to sheaw the oourz too the tooun and cuntree. 1632Sherwood s.v. Dial, The hand of a clock-dyall, la monstre d'un Horloge. 1747Gent. Mag. 224 Varnished, and silvered in all respects as a clock-dial. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 42 ⁋8, I walk in the great hall and watch the minute hand upon the dial. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 569 The part where the dials of the clock are placed is of an octagonal form. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 85 Sir Edmund Beckett advocates a concave form for the dials of public clocks.
b. fig.a1680Butler Rem. (1759) II. 214 The Face is the Dial of the Mind.
5.
†a. A mariner's compass. Obs.
1523Fitzherb. Surv. xx. 38 It is necessarie that he haue a Dyall with hym for els..he shall nat haue perfyte knowlege whiche is Eest West Northe and Southe. 1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 85 Whan the nedle standeth stedfastlye in the right Line wythin the Diall, it dothe as it were poynte directlye North and South. 1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. 986 For first inuenting of the Sea-man's Diall. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa i. 34 Cabo das Agulhas, or the cape of Needles, because there the needles of dialles touched with the loadstone, stand directly North. 1642Rogers Naaman 830 The needle of the Diall set just on the North point..shakes not.
b. Mining. A miner's compass for underground surveying.
1669E. Montagu tr. Barba's Metals, etc. (1740) 286 Having provided yourself of a Dial in a square Box. 1778W. Pryce Min. Cornub. 207 Apply the side of the dial to the string, and take the degree the needle stands on. 1875Ure Dict. Arts II. 18 The compass used in underground surveying is called a miner's dial, and is essentially the same instrument as the circumferentor used by the land-surveyor.
6. a. An external plate or face on which revolutions, pressure, etc. are indicated by an index-finger or otherwise, as in a gas-meter, telegraphic instrument, steam or water-gauge, etc.
1747Gentl. Mag. 223 Move one tooth every revolution of the wheel, thereby discovering the true distance of places by the index on the dial. 1842Penny Cycl. XXIV. 154/1 For communication..this object may be effected by a mechanical connection, by chains or wires, between two dials with revolving indexes or pointers. 1875Ure Dict. Arts II. 233 Let us now turn to the face of the instrument. Here we have a dial and an index, which is on the same axis as the magnetised needle.
b. With qualifying words, as tide-dial, wind-dial.
1792Archæologia X. 174 This machine of Varro's may be considered as the first wind-dial at Rome.
c. slang. The human face.
1811in Lexicon Balatronicum. 1889Bird o' Freedom 7 Aug. 3 (Farmer) An absinthe tumbler which caught him a nasty crack across the dial. 1933Punch 5 Apr. 384/3 The major hesitated, and then a grin lamped up his dial. 1958L. A. G. Strong Light above Lake xxi. 146 You should have seen the solemn dials on all the Gardas and officials.
d. On a telephone, a circular plate marked with letters, numbers, etc., above which is a disc which can be rotated by means of finger-holes to establish connection with another telephone. Cf. dial v. 4.
1879U.S. Pat. 222, 458 Automatic Telephone-Exchanges. ..each station comprises..a dial instrument..to make intermittent breaks in the electric current, the number and character of which are successively indicated on a dial. 1903Daily Mail Yr. Bk. 164/1 A moveable dial is attached to the instrument, and by manipulating this..the connection is completed and conversation becomes possible. 1914W. Atkins Princ. Automatic Telephony 8 To call, a finger is placed in the hole of the appropriate figure and the dial revolved until the stop-piece is reached. The dial is then let go and revolves back. 1921[see dial v. 4]. 1931[see sense 8 b below].
e. (See quot. 1940.)
1922–3T. Eaton's Catal. Fall & Winter 401/1 Radio Supplies... Dials and Knobs. 1928–9Ibid. Fall & Winter 245/2 One knob ‘selects’ the stations. The dial is illuminated by a miniature light within and geared control gives fine adjustments. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 239/2 Dial (Radio), the mechanism for adjusting, and for indicating the adjustment, of the tuning controls. 1960Which? May 100/1 BBC and ITA channel numbers could be read easily on most sets, though the DECCA dial could be misread.
7. A lapidary's instrument for holding a gem while exposed to the wheel.
It has markers indicating degrees in adjustment, so as to portion out the circumference of the stone in facets.
1875Ure Dict. Arts III. 42 An important instrument called a dial, which serves to hold the stone during the cutting and polishing.
8. attrib. and Comb.
a. General, as dial-foot, dial-hand, dial-maker, dial-motto, dial-stone, dial-work.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 87 In common watches pins falling out of the *dial feet is a fruitful source of trouble.
c1600Shakes. Sonn. civ, Yet doth beauty, like a *dial-hand, Steal from his figure and no pace perceived.
1599Minsheu Sp. Dict., Relogero..a *diall-maker.
1875Lanier Poems, Symphony 157 Each *dial-marked leaf and flower-bell.
1822Lamb Elia, Decay of Beggars, The standing *dial-mottos.
1874Knight Dict. Mech., *Dial⁓work (Horology), the motion work between the dial and movement plate of a watch.
b. Special comb., as dial-less a., without a dial, having no dial; dial-like a., like a dial; dial-lock, a lock furnished with dials, having hands or pointers, which must be set in a determinate way before the bolt will move; dial-moth, Tortrix gnomana (Samouelle, Entomol. Compend. 1819); dial-piece = dial-plate; dial-plane, the flat-surface of a sun-dial; dial-ring, a finger-ring in the form of a ring-dial; dial telegraph (orig. U.S.), a telegraph having a dial marked with letters, numbers, etc., and operated in such a way that the needle on the dial at the receiving station copies the movements of that at the transmitting station; dial (tele)phone, a telephone operated by means of a dial; dial tone (orig. U.S.), = dialling tone; dial-wheel (in a watch), one of the wheels placed between the dial and pillar-plate; dial-writer, a type-writer with a dial. Also dial-plate.
1865Athenæum 8 July 49 The tower remained *dial-less as before.
1851Mayne Reid Scalp-Hunt. i. 10 Where the helianthus turns her *dial-like face to the sun.
1659D. Pell Improv. Sea To Redr., Upon a *Dial-peece of a Clock in the Colledge Church of Glocester.
1690Leybourn Curs. Math. 699 The number of *Dial Plains are 25. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 310 A Dyal Plane is that Flat whereon a Dyal is intended to be projected. 1868Chambers' Encycl. III. 531/1 A dial consists of two parts—the stile or gnomon..and the dial-plane.
1877W. Jones Finger-ring 453 A *dial-ring consisting of two concentric rings moving one within the other.
1860G. B. Prescott Telegraph 160 The *dial telegraphs are those in which a needle traverses a dial, upon the margin of which are placed the letters of the alphabet. 1886Wormell tr. Von Urbanitzky's Electr. in Serv. Man (1890) 804 Of A B C systems where a battery is employed to furnish the current, Bréguet's Dial Telegraph is a good example.
1930U. Parrott Strangers may Kiss ii. iii. 59 The first *dial telephone exchange was opened. 1931Punch 27 May 564/2, I like the dial telephone. Bless its funny little dial! Ibid., One can do such a lot with the dial phone without getting into a hot exchange of snappy come-backs.
1923Bell System Techn. Jrnl. II. ii. 62 The subscriber will first remove his receiver from the hook and will hear the so-called..‘*dial tone’, which indicates that the apparatus is ready to receive the call.
1727–51Chambers Cycl. s.v. Watch-work, The *dial-wheel..serves to carry the hand.
1883Pall Mall G. 5 May 6/2 The last thing in type-writers, called a ‘*dial writer’.
▪ II. ˈdial, n.2
A name given in commerce to a superior kind of Kauri gum of a clear pale colour.
1893Times 14 July 4/4 Gums, Kowrie..Dial—pale yellowish, {pstlg}11.
▪ III. dial, v.|ˈdaɪəl|
[f. dial n.1]
1. trans. fig. To measure as with a dial; to indicate the degree of.
1821Campbell in New Monthly Mag. I. 10 Experienced sensibility is like the gnomon. It measures the altitude and dials the light of inspiration. 1839Bailey Festus (1852) 201 To teach us how to dial bliss. a1854Talfourd (Webster), Hours of that true time which is dialled in heaven.
2. To survey or lay out with the aid of a dial or miner's or surveyor's compass.
1653E. Manlove Lead Mines 164 To make inquiry, and to view the Rake, To plum and dyal. 1747Hooson Miner's Dict. s.v. Boring, Having exactly dialed it, to the place where you would have your Shaft to come through, and laid it out at the Day upon the Surface. 1778W. Pryce Min. Cornub. 203 Most of our Mines and Adits were dialled for in this manner. 1853Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XIV. i. 153 To cut the gutters with the plough used by him after being dialled out.
3. To mark as the plate of a dial.
1817[see dialled ppl. a.].
4. To manipulate a telephone dial (dial n.1 6 d) so as to establish connection with (another telephone). Also intr., to manipulate a telephone dial. Also transf. See also dialling vbl. n. 2 b.
1921Conquest Jan. 124/3 The operator's attention is obtained..by dialling ‘o’ usually. Ibid. 125/1 In order to dial a number, say 7, the finger is put in the hole above 7, and the dial is rotated to the stop and let go. Ibid. 126/3 The subscriber begins to dial by putting his finger in hole 5. 1928Daily Tel. 28 Feb. 15 She goes to the ‘central supply conveyor’, at which, by dialing on an indicating switchboard, she lets the store know her requirements. 1930Punch 21 May 579/1, I keep meeting people who are quite worn out with dialling all day. 1932E. Bowen To North xxv. 276 Very clumsily, slowly, she dialled a number. 1938L. MacNeice Earth Compels 52 Dial her number, None will reply. 1966Listener 21 July 103/1 This one dialled the safe's vital combination.
b. As imp., in dial-a-bus, etc., used chiefly of an agency or service that is accessible by telephone. (Freq. in attrib. collocations.)
1963Daily Tel. 6 Sept. 23/5 Britain's first ‘Dial-a-prayer’ system comes into operation on Birmingham's subscriber trunk dialling telephones next Tuesday. 1966Economist 19 Mar. 1127/3 The Boston-to-Washington system, ‘dial-a-stop’ and all, could be built and operating within ten years. 1969Nature 15 Feb. 601/2 The later introduction of a development in transport called ‘dial-a-bus’ or ‘telebus’ is also recommended. 1969Daily Mail 5 Apr. 5/1 A 24-hour dial-an-expert service has been set up to give advice to farmers. 1971Times 8 Jan. 3/8 The organisation also offered the public a ‘dial-a-chat’ service, where anyone could telephone its central switchboard..and speak to one of its members.
c. to dial up (trans. and intr.): to gain access to (a computer, etc.), or transmit (data), over a telephone line, orig. by manipulating a telephone dial or keypad; to ring up (a person, place, etc.) on the telephone. Cf. dial-up a. and n.
1977Times 30 Sept. 23/3 A much larger range of information..will be available for transmission when dialled up (via a calculator-like keypad—not the telephone dial—to be precise). 1982New Scientist 9 Dec. 654/1 High-bandwidth cable could be vital in services in which people ‘dial up’ their banks from home to conduct financial transactions. 1984Guardian 16 Aug. 13/5 With BBS's, users dial up, read the messages on the board, and leave their own comments. There are over 2,000 such systems in the United States, with about a dozen in the UK. 1984Listener 15 Nov. 38/2 Dial up directory inquiries and you find that whereas local inquiries are free, you are charged for those in other telephone areas. 1984Which? Dec. 539/2 You simply dial up Prestel and type in the recipient's Mailbox number. 1985Inmac Catal. Spring/Summer 83/2 You can dial-up using the single stored number, or direct from your keyboard. 1986Guardian 15 May 15/2 You just dial up Easynet, like any other telephone service, and enter a password. You're then offered a menu of choices or subjects on which to search. |