clock dial
1
3.1
- noun
- The clock dial showed that it was almost midnight as the party continued.
Examples
-
Every hour, the hands on the clock dial moved gracefully, marking the passage of time.
-
I could see the orange of the alarm clock dial and the phone pulled up close.
Fiction book (1991) -
She glanced at the clock dial to check the time before leaving for her meeting.
Synonyms
23
1.8
A clock face that shows the time with hands or numbers
1
2.1
A flat surface on a clock that shows the hours and minutes with numbers and hands
How Readable
2
3.6
1
3.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the face of a clock on which the time is shown' is directly and transparently derived from the constituents 'clock' (timekeeping device) and 'dial' (the display on a clock or gauge). This is a straightforward noun–noun compound following common semantic composition patterns found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand it.
Etymology
Clock dial comes from old sundials and the first mechanical clocks, which used a flat, marked plate called a dial. On a sundial a shadow moved across the marks and on a clock a hand moves the same way, so a clock dial became the 'face' that 'shows the time'.