dot

¹

[dot]

noun

1. a small, roundish mark made with or as if with a pen.

2. a minute or small spot on a surface; speck.

   There were dots of soot on the windowsill.

3. anything relatively small or specklike.

4. a small specimen, section, amount, or portion.

   a dot of butter.

5. a period, especially as used when pronouncing an internet address.

6. Music.

   1. a point placed after a note or rest, to indicate that the duration of the note or rest is to be increased one half. A double dot further increases the duration by one half the value of the single dot.

   2. a point placed under or over a note to indicate that it is to be played staccato.

7. Telegraphy.,  a signal of shorter duration than a dash, used in groups along with groups of dashes and spaces to represent letters, as in Morse code.

8. Printing.,  an individual element in a halftone reproduction.

verb (used with object)

dotted, dotting 

1. to mark with or as if with a dot or dots.

2. to stud or diversify with or as if with dots.

   Trees dot the landscape.

3. to form or cover with dots.

   He dotted a line across the page.

4. Cooking.,  to sprinkle with dabs of butter, margarine, or the like.

   Dot the filling with butter.

verb (used without object)

dotted, dotting 

1. to make a dot or dots.

dot

²

[dot, dawt]

noun

Civil Law.

1. dowry.

Dot

³

[dot]

noun

1. a female given name, form of Dorothea and Dorothy.

DOT

⁴

abbreviation

1. damage over time: (in a video game) an attack that results in light or moderate damage when it is dealt, but that wounds or weakens the receiving character, who continues to lose health in small increments for a specified period of time, or until healed by a spell, potion, etc.

2. Department of Transportation.

3. Dictionary of Occupational Titles: reference book formerly published by the Department of Labor with job titles, descriptions, and official classifications, discontinued in 1999 and replaced by the online Occupational Informational Network.

dot

¹

/ dɒt /

noun

1. a small round mark made with or as with a pen, etc; spot; speck; point

2. anything resembling a dot; a small amount

   a dot of paint

3. the mark (˙) that appears above the main stem of the letters i, j

4. music

   1. the symbol (·) placed after a note or rest to increase its time value by half

   2. this symbol written above or below a note indicating that it must be played or sung staccato

5. maths logic

   1. the symbol (.) indicating multiplication or logical conjunction

   2. a decimal point

6. the symbol (·) used, in combination with the symbol for dash (–), in the written representation of Morse and other telegraphic codes Compare dit

7. informal,  as long ago as can be remembered

8. at exactly the arranged time

verb

1. (tr) to mark or form with a dot

   to dot a letter

   a dotted crotchet

2. (tr) to scatter or intersperse (with dots or something resembling dots)

   bushes dotting the plain

3. (intr) to make a dot or dots

4. to pay meticulous attention to detail

dot

²

/ ˈdəʊtəl, dɒt /

noun

1. civil law a woman's dowry

dot

1. A symbol (·) indicating multiplication, as in 2 · 4 = 8. It is used to indicate the dot product of vectors, for example A · B.

2. A period, as used as in URLs and e-mail addresses, to separate strings of words, as in www.hmco.com.

Other Word Forms

• dotlike adjective
• dotter noun
• dotal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of dot¹

First recorded before 1000; perhaps to be identified with Old English dott “head of a boil,” though not attested in Middle English; dottle, dit, derivative of Old English dyttan “to stop up” (probably derivative of dott ); cognate with Old High German tutta “nipple”

Origin of dot²

First recorded in 1820–25; from French, from Latin dōtem, accusative of dōs “dowry,” akin to dare “to give”

Word History and Origins

Origin of dot¹

Old English dott head of a boil; related to Old High German tutta nipple, Norwegian dott, Dutch dott lump

Origin of dot²

C19: from French, from Latin dōs; related to dōtāre to endow, dāre to give

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. on the dot, precisely; exactly at the time specified.

   The guests arrived at eight o'clock on the dot.

2. the year dot, very long ago.

3. dot one's i's and cross one's t's, to be meticulous or precise, even to the smallest detail.

More idioms and phrases containing dot

• on the dot
• sign on the dotted line

Example Sentences

Officials did not state whether it would be one or two cuts, though the Fed’s so-called dot plot indicated a slight majority favored two moves this year.

Read more on MarketWatch

Each member’s projection is represented by an anonymous dot on the public release.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

He has traveled in a bus packed with U.S. farmers down narrow roads into rural Cambodia, where the landscape is dotted with half-acre ponds used for fish farming.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

A civil-defense course two years ago helped Huang connect the dots between planning for a trek and preparing for an emergency evacuation.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

“So one reason for why my dot for 2025 sticks out so much from everyone else’s is because I’m more sanguine on the inflation outlook than a lot of other people are,” Miran said.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• dab 
• droplet 
• fleck 
• speck