Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An instrument that indicates local apparent solar time by the shadow cast by a central projecting pointer on a surrounding calibrated dial.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An instrument for indicating the time of day by means of the position of a shadow on a dial or diagram.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An instrument to show the time of day by means of the shadow of a gnomon, or style, on a plate.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any shell of the genus Solarium. See Solarium.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A simple timekeeping device in which the shadow cast by a vertical pole or plate (the gnomon) is used to indicate the time of day.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun timepiece that indicates the daylight hours by the shadow that the gnomon casts on a calibrated dial

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

sun +‎ dial

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Examples

  • Constructed almost three centuries ago, its 73-foot-tall sundial is the largest in the world:

    Boing Boing 2009

  • The sundial is available in two versions, for use in either hemisphere.

    Boing Boing: November 30, 2003 - December 6, 2003 Archives 2003

  • Apparently, Rawls hasn't considered the fact that many Muslims already know when the exact prayer times are each day - obviating the need for a "sundial" - or what happens on an overcast day and the "sundial" can't be used - I grew up a few hundred miles away from the site of the Memorial, and am well familiar with that part of Pennsylvania and its climate.

    Archive 2006-01-01 JDsg 2006

  • Apparently, Rawls hasn't considered the fact that many Muslims already know when the exact prayer times are each day - obviating the need for a "sundial" - or what happens on an overcast day and the "sundial" can't be used - I grew up a few hundred miles away from the site of the Memorial, and am well familiar with that part of Pennsylvania and its climate.

    Alec Rawls and the Crescent of Embrace JDsg 2006

  • East of the sundial is a hoary old sycamore, sole survivor of three sisters, carefully protected by railings, under whose grateful shade, says local tradition, Johnson and Goldsmith were wont to chat.

    Lippincott's Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science Old Series, Vol. 36—New Series, Vol. 10, July 1885 Various

  • For, as you may have guessed, the sundial is a symbol.

    Penguin Persons & Peppermints Walter Prichard Eaton 1917

  • On top of the gnomon on our sundial is a silver ball with three sets of holes, which allows the sun to shine through pairs of lenses near each solstice or equinox.

    Museum Blogs 2009

  • This is what's called a sundial cannon, or a noon cannon.

    Original Signal - Transmitting Gadgets 2009

  • One of the most efficient ways to tell time, a simple mechanism that needs no cogwheels, no pendulum, no springs and no winding: to follow the shadow of the sun cast upon a numbered scale in what is known as a sundial or a sun clock.

    Barcelona Photoblog 2009

  • The sundial is a device that measures time by marking the shadow cast by the position of the sun onto a dial, usually a flat disc.

    Joe Perez 2008

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