butt-dial

American  

[buht-dahy-uhl, ‐dahyl] / ˈbʌtˌdaɪ əl, ‐daɪl /

verb (used with or without object)

1. to unintentionally call (someone) on a cell phone in one's back pocket as a result of buttons being pressed accidentally.

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noun

1. null butt dial a call made in this way.

   Sorry, it must have been a butt-dial.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• butt-dialing
  noun

Etymology

Origin of butt-dial

2000–05; butt ¹ (slang for “buttocks”) + dial

Example Sentences

This is why the butt dial hits us where it hurts, triggering embarrassment that grades into a deeper existential dolor.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 5, 2019

The butt dial is slapstick, the most inherently hilarious of twenty-first-century privacy perils.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 5, 2019

He described them as the result of "what is known, in casual parlance, as a butt dial".

From BBC • Oct. 26, 2019

“Everyone has a good Rudy butt dial story,” the Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey tweeted.

From Slate • Oct. 26, 2019

As Meg writes, we worship the Associated Press Stylebook, and so we forgive it when it fails us, as it did last week when I looked up butt dial.

From Slate • Aug. 7, 2015