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

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

After you treat a hole, wait 24 hours, then plug the hole with a short length of wooden dowel coated with wood glue or with steel wool covered with caulk.

From Washington Post • Sep. 6, 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

Most of them look more fabricky, or almost like a wood or metal dowel that has fabric on the end of it .

From Salon • Oct. 19, 2021

But most of all she remembered a piece of fabric, about the size of a pillowcase, which hung from a wooden dowel at the bottom of the stairs.

From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri