Wiktionary

sundial

English

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a sundial

Etymology

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From sun +‎ dial, a clarification of dial after it was used for other objects as well.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sundial (plural sundials)

  1. A device measuring the time of day by the position of a shadow cast by a pole or plate (gnomon) upon an engraved series of marks.
    The birdbath includes a small gnomon that acts as a sundial with markings on the basin if it's aligned correctly with the sun.
    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
      Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there.
      "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."
    • 1985 April 4, Daryln Brewer, “HELPFUL HARDWARE; AN ARRAY OF SUNDIALS”, in The New York Times‎[1]:
      The shop carries more than a dozen sundials, mostly of bronze, plus an astrolabe ($650) of wrought iron.
    • 1988, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 3, in The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 60:
      It was Oxford now—the matriculation photograph, posed in the stony front quad at Corpus, the pelican on top of the sundial appearing to sit on the head of the lanky, begowned chemist at the centre of the back row.

Synonyms

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Hyponyms

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Coordinate terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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