dowel

American  

[dou-uhl] / ˈdaʊ əl /

noun

1. Also called dowel pin.  Carpentry. a pin, usually round, fitting into holes in two adjacent pieces to prevent their slipping or to align them.

2. a piece of wood driven into a hole drilled in a masonry wall to receive nails, as for fastening woodwork.

3. a round wooden rod of relatively small diameter.

4. Dentistry. a peg, usually of metal, set into the root canal of a natural tooth to give additional support to an artificial crown.

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verb (used with object)

doweled, doweling, dowelled, dowelling

1. to reinforce or furnish with a dowel or dowels.

dowel British  

/ ˈdaʊəl /

noun

1. Also called: dowel pin.  a wooden or metal peg that fits into two corresponding holes to join two adjacent parts

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Other Word Forms

• undoweled
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of dowel

1300–50; Middle English dowle < Middle Low German dovel plug; compare German Döbel, Dübel, Old High German tubili

Explanation

A dowel is a peg, usually made of wood, that fastens two objects together. A dowel might connect a shelf to a bracket, for example. Dowels are used in furniture making to hold different parts together, such as a table leg and a table top. A dowel usually works by fitting into a slot or hole in each of the two adjacent pieces. Elaborate cakes with many different tiers might have dowels hidden inside them, connecting each separate cake to the next. The word dowel is believed to stem from the same root as the Middle Low German dovel, "plug" or "tap."

Example Sentences

Rockler sells these as part of its $2.49 Hinge Dowel Repair Kit.

From Washington Post • Jul. 5, 2019

Adams 19-Inch Wooden Rolling Dowel, which is the runner-up in our guide to rolling pins, is hulking in comparison and seemed to intimidate the kids—none of them wanted to try it.

From Slate • Jan. 11, 2019

On his father's side, Quayle's family ran the Chicago Dowel Co., which produced Lincoln Logs.

From Time Magazine Archive

Dowel, Dobet and Dobest have two or three different meanings.

From A Literary History of the English People From the Origins to the Renaissance by Jusserand, Jean Jules

The poet endeavours to join in their dwellings Dowel, Dobet, and Dobest; in other terms: Good-life, Better-life, and Best-life.

From A Literary History of the English People From the Origins to the Renaissance by Jusserand, Jean Jules