dowel
Americannoun
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Also called dowel pin. Carpentry. a pin, usually round, fitting into holes in two adjacent pieces to prevent their slipping or to align them.
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a piece of wood driven into a hole drilled in a masonry wall to receive nails, as for fastening woodwork.
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a round wooden rod of relatively small diameter.
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Dentistry. a peg, usually of metal, set into the root canal of a natural tooth to give additional support to an artificial crown.
verb (used with object)
noun
Other Word Forms
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."
Vocabulary lists containing dowel
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
By the time she folds it shut with a long wooden dowel, the flatbread is already bubbly and browned.
From Washington Times • Apr. 21, 2023
Maintenance is easy, too: He just turns it with a rebar dowel and hoses it down when it's dry.
From Salon • Aug. 18, 2022
No, a guy walks into a gallery, carrying a bar — a wooden dowel painted in bright stripes of color.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2022
The dowel and tapered pins are the most straightforward, consisting of a single piece.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 20, 2021
They were heavy constructions of plywood, a sanded dowel for backstroke starts, puke-green carpet torn from somebody's basement stapled into the sloping tops for traction, and lane numbers spray-painted in orange on the backs.
From "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" by emily m. danforth
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
