Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An instrument that indicates local apparent solar time by the shadow cast by a central projecting pointer on a surrounding calibrated dial.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An instrument for indicating the time of day by means of the position of a shadow on a dial or diagram. The shadow used is generally the edge of a gnomon, which edge must be parallel to the earth's axis, about which the sun revolves uniformly in consequence of the earth's diurnal rotation. If a series of imaginary planes through the edge (one in the meridian and the others inclined to one another by successive multiples of 15°) be cut by the plane of the dial, the intersecting lines will be in the positions of the hour-lines of the dial. The shadow of any given point upon the gnomonedge will fall at different positions on the hour-line according to the declination of the sun, and this circumstance may be used to make the dial show mean instead of apparent time. But this is inconvenient, and seldom used. Portable sun-dials used often to be made so that their indications depended exclusively on the altitude of the sun; such dials require adjustment for the time of the year. See
dial .
Wiktionary
- n. 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.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An instrument to show the time of day by means of the shadow of a gnomon, or style, on a plate.
WordNet 3.0
- n. timepiece that indicates the daylight hours by the shadow that the gnomon casts on a calibrated dial
Etymologies
- sun + dial (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Constructed almost three centuries ago, its 73-foot-tall sundial is the largest in the world:”
“The sundial is available in two versions, for use in either hemisphere.”
“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.”
“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.”
“For, as you may have guessed, the sundial is a symbol.”
“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.”
“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.”
“This is what's called a sundial cannon, or a noon cannon.”
“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.”
“A while back we expended a lot of energy to come to the conclusion that a random set of rocks casting shadows didn't provide "coded information" but the moment an intelligent agent intentionally moved a single rock to make a "sundial", the rocks then provided "coded information".”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sundial’.
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A Garnish of Pewter
A list of pewter items and wares gleaned from the literature, or found listed for sale in antique catalogs - from spoons to stills and chamber pots to church cups. A synonym for the larger, heavier...
teapot, porringer, flagon, wine funnel, pepper shaker, broth bowl, basin, candlesticks, tankard, beaker, measure, chalice and 155 more...
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Sun Words
heliotrope, heliograph, aphelion, heliocentric, perihelion, heliosphere, heliosheath, heliopause, heliophysics, heliotail, heliocentrism, helioseismology and 50 more...
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measure for measure
Things that can be used to measure other things.
osmometer, thermometer, spectrometer, ruler, rain gauge, ph meter, spectrophotometer, odometer, tachometer, compass, brannock device, tape measure and 51 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Mollusks
"Snaily, clammy, squidy" has evolved into a vehicle for linking to mollusk quotations, so I've started this list for vernacular names of mollusks.
clam, snail, slug, squid, octopus, nautilus, conch, chank, whelk, mussel, oyster, scallop and 221 more...
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Tick Tock Ya Don't Stop
Kinds of clocks.
sundial, hourglass, gnomon, water clock, tally stick, clepsydra, pendulum clock, grandfather clock, longcase clock, chamber clock, cuckoo clock, clock tower and 34 more...
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words about time
words about time, timekeeping, things that make time, ways that time passes, ways that time is measured, ways that time is described.
inevitable, soon, fleeting, singularity, pre-cambrian, aeon, century, millenium, era, orology, antediluvian, tempus fugit and 48 more...
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