| dial | 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; especially, 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. <zoology> Dial bird, 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. Origin: LL. Dialis daily, fr. L. Dies day. See Deity. 1. To measure with a dial. "Hours of that true time which is dialed in heaven." (Talfourd) 2. <chemical> To survey with a dial. Origin: Dialed or Dialled; Dialing or Dialling. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| dial manometer | aneroid manometer |
| dialect | 1. Means or mode of expressing thoughts; language; tongue; form of speech. "This book is writ in such a dialect As may the minds of listless men affect. Bunyan. The universal dialect of the world." (South) 2. The form of speech of a limited region or people, as distinguished from ether forms nearly related to it; a variety or subdivision of a language; speech characterised by local peculiarities or specific circumstances; as, the Ionic and Attic were dialects of Greece; the Yorkshire dialect; the dialect of the learned. "In the midst of this Babel of dialects there suddenly appeared a standard English language." (Earle) "[Charles V] could address his subjects from every quarter in their native dialect." (Prescott) Synonym: Language, idiom, tongue, speech, phraseology. See Language, and Idiom. Origin: F. Dialecte, L. Dialectus, fr. Gr, fr. To converse, discourse. See Dialogue. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| dialectics | That branch of logic which teaches the rules and modes of reasoning; the application of logical principles to discursive reasoning; the science or art of discriminating truth from error; logical discussion. Dialectics was defined by Aristotle to be the method of arguing with probability on any given problem, and of defending a tenet without inconsistency. By Plato, it was used in the following senses: 1. Discussion by dialogue as a method of scientific investigation. 2. The method of investigating the truth by analysis. 3. The science of ideas or of the nature and laws of being higher metaphysics. By Kant, it was employed to signify the logic of appearances or illusions, whether these arise from accident or error, or from those necessary limitations which, according to this philosopher, originate in the constitution of the human intellect. Origin: L. Dialectica (sc. Ars), Gr. (sc): cf. F. Dialectique. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| dialectology | <study> That branch of philology which is devoted to the consideration of dialects. Origin: Dialect. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Dialister | An obsolete genus of bacteria, the type species of which, Dialister pneumosintes, is now placed in the genus Bacteroides. (05 Mar 2000) |
| diallage | <chemical> A dark green or bronze-coloured laminated variety of pyroxene, common in certain igneous rocks. Origin: Gr. Change, alluding to the change and inequality of luster between the natural joints of the mineral. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| diallel | Meeting and intersecting, as lines; not parallel; opposed to parallel. Origin: Gr. Crossing. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| diallyl | <chemistry> A volatile, pungent, liquid hydrocarbon, C6H10, consisting of two allyl radicals, and belonging to the acetylene series. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| dialogite | <chemical> Native carbonate of manganese; rhodochrosite. Origin: From Gr. An arguing. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| dialypetalous | <botany> Having separate petals; polypetalous. Origin: Gr. Through, asunder + to loose + leaf. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| dialysance | The number of milliliters of blood completely cleared of any substance by an artificial kidney or by peritoneal dialysis in a unit of time; conventional clearance formulas are expressed as mm/min. Origin: fr. Dialysis (05 Mar 2000) |
| dialysate | That part of a mixture that passes through a dialyzing membrane. Synonym: diffusate. (05 Mar 2000) |
| dialysis | <technique> The process of separating crystalloids and colloids in solution by the difference in their rates of diffusion through a semipermeable membrane, crystalloids pass through readily, colloids very slowly or not at all. <technique> A medical procedure that uses a machine to filter waste products from the bloodstream and restore the bloods normal constituents. A necessary form of treatment in the patient with end-stage renal disease. In most circumstances, kidney dialysis is administered in a fixed schedule of three times per week. See: haemodialysis. Origin: Gr. Lysis = dissolution (26 Nov 1998) |
| dialysis dementia | A progressive (often fatal) diffuse encephalopathy which occurs in a few patients who undergo chronic haemodialysis, dementia is a key feature (27 Sep 1997) |
| astigmatic dial | A diagram of radiating lines, used to test for astigmatism. (05 Mar 2000) |
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