Sundial Meaning
/ˈsʌnˌdaɪ.əl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA 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.
nounA sea snail of the genus Heliacus.
Sentence Examples
There's a sundial in the garden.
This is a sundial.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Before clocks were invented, people used a ____ to tell the time using the sun's position.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ancient ____ in the garden uses the position of the sun's shadow to tell the local time of day.
Word Origin & History
From sun + dial, a clarification of dial after it was used for other objects as well.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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.""
— 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
"The shop carries more than a dozen sundials, mostly of bronze, plus an astrolabe ($650) of wrought iron."
— 1985 April 4, Daryln Brewer, “HELPFUL HARDWARE; AN ARRAY OF SUNDIALS”, in The New York Times:
"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."
— 1988, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 3, in The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 60:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Before clocks were invented, people used a ____ to tell the time using the sun's position.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ancient ____ in the garden uses the position of the sun's shadow to tell the local time of day.