dowel
[dou-uh l]
- Also called dowel pin. Carpentry. a pin, usually round, fitting into holes in two adjacent pieces to prevent their slipping or to align them.
- a piece of wood driven into a hole drilled in a masonry wall to receive nails, as for fastening woodwork.
- a round wooden rod of relatively small diameter.
- 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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- to reinforce or furnish with a dowel or dowels.
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Origin of dowel
1300–50; Middle English dowle < Middle Low German dovel plug; compare German Döbel, Dübel, Old High German tubili
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for dowel
Historical Examples
Dowel, Dobet and Dobest have two or three different meanings.
A Literary History of the English PeopleJean Jules Jusserand
The dowel should be dipped in glue and inserted when the glue is applied to the joint.
Handwork in WoodWilliam Noyes
A-1 is the distance from the working edge of the rail to the first dowel.
Handwork in WoodWilliam Noyes
Duledge was also used for dowel, the wooden pin connecting the felloes.
The Sailor's Word-BookWilliam Henry Smyth
Bore the holes in the posts and the railing for the dowel pins.
Mission FurnitureH. H. Windsor
dowel
- a wooden or metal peg that fits into two corresponding holes to join two adjacent partsAlso called: dowel pin
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Word Origin
C14: from Middle Low German dövel plug, from Old High German tubili; related to Greek thuphos wedge
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for dowel
n.
mid-14c., dule "rim or section of a wheel," perhaps akin to Middle Low German dovel "plug, tap" (of a cask). Modern meaning is first attested 1794.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper