dotn.¹prep.

Brit.

/dɒt/, U.S.

/dɑt/

Forms: Old English 1600s–1800s dott, 1500s– dot, 1600s–1700s dote.

Origin: Of uncertain origin.

Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps ultimately expressive. Perhaps related to any or all of: Dutch dot knot or bunch of thread (1669; perhaps compare earlier dodde in lischdodden reedmace (1554)), tuft of unspun wool or similar material (1704), lump (1770), small child (1836), German regional (Low German) Dutt , Dutten , Dott , Dotte heap, lump, bundle, knot (especially of hair), Icelandic dotti spot, stain, Swedish regional dott wad, Norwegian dott wad (of wool), wisp (of hay), Danish dot lump, bundle (especially of wool or flax), wisp (now rare and regional), although none of these is attested early. Compare dit v. and its Scandinavian parallels, which could perhaps show a weak Class I verb derived from the same Germanic base as these words. In regional use in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, the nouns apparently can have the specific sense of wads used to stop up openings or holes, which could support such a connection. Compare dottle n.² 1.In Old English in an isolated attestation. Not attested from the Middle English period; however, compare dottle n.² The semantic development in English is not entirely clear, but perhaps the original sense was ‘lump, small piece of matter’ and use with reference to the head of a boil (see sense A. 1) was a specific use of that sense. With sense A. 12 perhaps compare senses of tot n.⁴

A. n.¹

I. A small lump, spot, or mark.

1. The head of a boil. English regional (Yorkshire) in later use. rare.The otherwise isolated modern English use in quot. 1963 could alternatively show a contextual use of sense A. 3.

ΚΠ

OE Lacnunga (2001) I. lxxxiii. 70 Geopenige mon þonne þone dott & binde þone cliðan to þan swyle.

1963 H. Orton & W. J. Halliday Surv. Eng. Dial. I. ii. 679 Q[uestion]. Have you a special word for the centre of a boil?..[Yorkshire] Dot.

2. A small lump of some (typically viscous) substance; a clot; a blob.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > an assemblage or collection > [noun] > mass formed by collection of particles > dense or compact > small

dot1570

knoba1637

molecula1713

knibloch1718

hunchet1790

nublet1863

1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Oiv/2 A Dot, obstructorium.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Cracher vn Iacobin, to spit out a collop, or dot of flegme.

1771 E. Gilchrist Use Sea Voy. in Med. (new ed.) Suppl. 241 A discharge of phlegm, mixed with small dots of greenish matter.

1842 Chambers's Information for People (new ed.) II. 542/2 When commencing from a hole, the ball may be cogged up on the point of a dot of mud or turf, to allow of a commanding stroke.

1920 Warren Cook Bk. (ed. 5) 144 A few dots of butter or lard placed on upper crust before baking will increase flakiness.

2000 I. Rilke tr. A. Japin Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi 127 She peeled off her gloves and rubbed a dot of jelly over her knuckles.

3. A small, roundish, naturally occurring spot, speck, or mark of a different colour or appearance from the surface on which it appears; (esp. in early use) a small raised or indented spot.rare before the mid 18th cent., and before that period perhaps only a contextual use of sense A. 2, referring to a lump or blob of something which happens to be attached to a surface.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > variegation > spot of colour > [noun] > small spot or speckle

puncta1398

pointa1400

masclec1400

specklec1440

pecklec1450

sprinkle1481

spreckle1513

frecklea1549

spruttle1553

dot1596

punctum1653

pip1676

spark1686

punctal1694

mail1727

punctule1785

puncta1858

freck1866

guttula1887

1596 E. Coote Eng. Schoole-maister ii. i. 15 You haue a Dot on the nose.

1766 R. B. Cheston Pathol. Inq. & Observ. Surg. ii. 14 The red Dots upon the Surface of the Kidney are so uniform..that we cannot look upon them as so many Extravasations.

1805 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 14 367 In the measles the rash is composed of circular dots partly distinct, partly set in small clusters.

1871 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 27 May 558/2 After eight years, there is no ‘mark’ on any of the teeth; only a simple surface of dentine surrounded by enamel, and a dot of osteodentine in the centre.

a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xiii. 308 The under-surface being commonly soft grey or brown, with streaks and dots.

2017 University Wire (Nexis) 11 Aug. He saw the little white dots on the skin of the apple.

a. A drawn, printed, or otherwise deliberately created small round mark, usually one indicating, identifying, or representing something. Also: one of a number of such marks forming an image or design.See also polka dot n.For specific senses relating to systems of writing see sense A. 5.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > writing > written character > [noun] > written character not a letter

markOE

noteOE

signa1382

dot1659

characteristical1681

mark of suspension1912

1659 H. More Immortality of Soul ii. xi. 229 A kind of Brachygraphie, some small dots here and there standing for the recovering to Memory a series of things that would fill, it may be, many sheets of paper to write them at large.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson iii. ii. 315 A small Islet..which is represented in the general chart..only by a dot.

1766 ‘M. A. Porny’ Elem. Heraldry (1787) 20 Or, which signifies gold, and in colour yellow, is expressed by points, pricks, or dots.

1821 W. M. Craig Lect. Drawing vii. 403 The last mode of employing the engraver's implements which I shall describe to you, is that of working entirely in dots or points.

1894 H. S. Marks Pen & Pencil Sketches I. viii. 133 The eyes of Edwin have a fixed and stony stare, admirably rendered by mere dots.

1914 O. Onions Mushroom Town 68 The Squire could only make dots with his pen on the blotting-paper before him.

1946 Hesperia 15 134 There are red dots on her dress.

2017 Tangerine (New Delhi) (Nexis) 21 July Put a dot next to the priority moves on your to-do list and make sure to tackle them first.

b. Music slang (chiefly Jazz in early use). In plural. The notes on sheet music; (hence) written or printed music.Cf. the more specific meanings in musical notation described at sense A. 6.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > [noun]

pricksonga1450

pricked song1463

musicc1615

dot1919

1919 Evening Rev. (E. Liverpool, Ohio) 28 Apr. 9/3 (advt.) We play the dots that are on the sheet.

1956 K. Baker in S. Traill Play that Music i. 22 When speaking of jazz, I mean that kind of music that is all spontaneous, fully extemporized, in other words—no ‘dots’.

2003 Oxfordshire Weekly 16 July 36/1 (advt.) Trumpet player needed... No dots at present so much learning by ear.

II. Specific and technical uses.

5. In various systems of writing or of dividing text.

a. A point placed over, under, or next to a letter or figure to modify its meaning, pronunciation, or value. Chiefly in Semitic systems of writing or notation; cf. point n.¹ 16c.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > writing > written character > [noun] > written character not a letter > diacritic > types of

prickOE

tittlec1384

acute accent1555

windabout1589

cerilla1591

cedilla1599

acute1609

circumflex1609

grave1609

diaeresis1611

dialysis1665

dot1693

short accent, mark1704

long mark1729

síneadh fada1768

macron1851

macrotone1880

tilde1915

umlaut1938

fada1981

ogonek1981

1693 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. I. ii. 53 Those little Horns, Pricks and Dots belonging to the Hebrew Letters.

1751 G. Sharpe Seven Lett. Method learning Hebrew Lang. (ed. 2) i. 4 To express thousands the Rabbins usually place two dots over the units.

1844 W. Upton Physioglyphics 90 פּ represents P, but פ (without the dot) is equivalent to Ph.

1965 Bull. School Oriental & Afr. Stud. 28 533 Al-Jabartī writes without the two diacritical dots under the letter yā.

2004 J. Hoffman In Beginning v. 56 The Masoretes used a dot on the left to indicate the sound /s/.

b. A point used in punctuation, as in the full stop (.), colon (:), etc., or as one of a series used to indicate omission or ellipsis. Cf. point n.¹ 16a.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > writing > written character > punctuation > [noun] > point or stop

distinction1552

stay1596

stop1598

interpunction1617

punctc1620

punctum1652

interpoint1684

interstinctive point1696

dot1699

interpunctuation1717

guard-stops1866

distinctive1874

interpunct1898

punctus elevatus1951

punctus versus1951

punctus1954

1699 W. Mather Young Mans Compan. (ed. 5) 36 A Period, or dot, is a full stop, and is put after a full Sentence.

1877 J. Stormonth Punctuation 11 The Colon consists of round dots, thus (:), placed one above the other.

1940 Mod. Lang. Jrnl. 24 337 The French ellipsis, whose three dots are hardly any longer than an ‘em quad’.

2013 Gold Coast (Austral.) Bull. (Nexis) 13 Feb. 20 Everyone knows you put a dot at the end of a sentence.

c. The point at the top of the lower-case letters i and j. Also: a point formerly placed over the letter y when used to represent any of the vowel sounds otherwise represented by i (now historical).In quot. 1887 in figurative context, relating to the provision of detail: see to dot the i's at dot v.¹ Phrases.

ΚΠ

1718 tr. B. de La Monnoye in J. Toland Nazarenus (ed. 2) App. ii. 11 The time when Transcribers begun to put a dot or tittle over the letter i.

1794 J. Wolcot Rowland for Oliver in Wks. II. 380 On each superfluous letter vents a sigh, and saves the little dot upon an i.

1887 Ld. Derby in Pall Mall Gaz. 15 Nov. 14/1 He did not care to put the dots on the i's, but he said with conviction that the difficulty which Malthus pointed out seventy years ago..was upon us again.

1973 Mod. Lang. Rev. 68 284 I quote the passage in question as printed in the edition, save for the dot over the y.

2012 F. Vincent in R. Keurajian Baseball Hall of Fame Autographs 2/1 My old friend John Mize never placed a dot over the ‘i’ in his signature.

d. Computing. A full stop or point used in a URL, Internet Protocol address, etc., to divide the different components.Frequently used in the representation of (part of) a URL as text. See dotcom n. 1, dot-org n. 1.

ΘΚΠ

society > computing and information technology > programming language > [noun] > notation > symbol

dot1981

backslash1982

1978 B. W. Kernighan & D. M. Richie C Programming Lang. 120 The structure member operator ‘.’ connects the structure name and the member name.]

1981 S. Sluizer & J. B. Postel Request for Comments (Network Working Group) (Electronic text) No. 780. 21 Another form is four small decimal integers separated by dots and enclosed by brackets, e.g., ‘[123.255.37.321]’, which indicates a 32 bit ARPA Internet Address in four eight bit fields.

2014 D. Gorman Too Much Information (2015) xiv. 117 I imagine there were hordes of people feeling momentarily put out when they found their computers were showing them information about West Virginian school closures and not pictures of bikini-clad actresses..just because they'd gone for a dot-com instead of a dot-co-dot-uk.

6. Music. In musical notation.

a. One of a vertical pair of points placed in conjunction with a bar line or (more commonly) double bar, in order to mark the start and end of a passage that is to be repeated.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > notation > [noun] > dot

prick1482

dot1740

1740 J. Grassineau tr. S. De Brossard Musical Dict. 197 If there be dots on each side of the bars, they direct to a repetition both of the preceding and following strains.

1854 R. Massie Martin Luther's Spiritual Songs Pref. p. xvi Attention must..be paid to the dots of repetition.

2001 Musical Q. 85 575 There was no unified practice among eighteenth- and nineteenth-century publishers concerning the repeat sign after a slow introduction to a sonata-allegro. While some publications printed the dots, plenty of others did not.

b. A point placed after a note or rest to lengthen it by half as much again, or over a note to indicate that it is to be performed staccato. Cf. double dot n. at double adj.¹ and adv. Compounds 1.

ΚΠ

1778 G. Bernard tr. A. Bemetzrieder Music made Easy i. iii. 36 Dots are frequently placed after the Notes, which render them half as long again.

1806 J. W. Callcott Musical Gram. iii. 32 When it is necessary to lengthen a Note by half its value, a dot is placed after it.

1914 M. Gibb Chassevant Method Musical Educ. ii. 19 In the ‘First Solfège’ there are no dots used, though there are many examples of tied notes.

2002 Notes 68 497 Although the markings in Beethoven's autographs suggest that he often intended a distinction between dots and strokes, many modern editors standardize the staccato as a dot.

†7. Mining. A column of ore running into the rock, esp. one having soft material (e.g. clay) at its centre; = dot-hole n. at Compounds. Obsolete. rare.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.

ΚΠ

1747 W. Hooson Miners Dict. Dots, and Dot-Holes, round holes of Ore, runing into the hard Stone, especially in Pipes, much like those called Blanches.

8. Plastering. Any of several markers (e.g. nails or patches of plaster) fitted to a wall in order to indicate where the ends of the screeds (screed n.¹ 4a) should lie.

ΚΠ

1823 P. Nicholson New Pract. Builder 390 Dots, patches of plaster put on to regulate the floating rule in making screeds and bays.

1837 P. Nicholson New & Improved Pract. Builder II. iii. iv. 190 When the dots are sufficiently set, the spaces between them are filled up flush with coarse stuff.

1915 F. R. Walker Building Estimator's Ref. Bk. xii. 247 It is necessary for the plasterer to..place either wood grounds or plaster ‘dots’ on all walls to run his work to.

2018 M. Henry & T. Therrien Essent. Nat. Plasters (e-book ed.) iv. Fill in a horizontal line of plaster between your upper dots, and another between your lower dots.

9. In Morse code: the shorter of the two signals which in various combinations represent alphanumeric characters. See also dash n.¹ 7f.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telegraphy > [noun] > telegraphic message > code > Morse code > signs in

dot1838

dash1859

long1867

short1891

dah1942

dit1942

V-sign1959

1838 Ann. Electr., Magnetism, & Chem. 3 146 The alphabetical signals are made up of combinations of dots and of lines of different lengths.

1944 Amer. Mag. Mar. 162/1 A long press on the button for a dash. A short press for a dot. It is plain international code.

2013 Smith Jrnl. Spring 31 Older readers may note that the mark is in fact morse code, composed of dots and dashes spelling out an indecisive ‘um.’

†10. Embroidery. A sewing stitch consisting of small double stitches of even length created by backstitching, typically used to fill in the centre of a design or to trace an outline; = dot stitch n. 1. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > sewn or ornamented textile fabric > [noun] > sewing or work sewn > stitch > other

accrue1725

gobble stitch1788

seam-stitch1825

marking stitch1861

dot1882

seam1882

basket-darning1884

basting1885

bridle1885

padding stitch1913

stab-stitch1917

tuck-stitch1926

prick stitch1928

fishbone-stitch1932

pad stitch1964

1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 154/2 Dot, an Embroidery stitch used in all kinds of fancy work, and known as Point de Pois and Point d'Or.

11. The smallest subdivision of an image on a television or other electronic display; a picture element or pixel. Also: a component or element of an electronic display screen which produces such a subdivision of an image (e.g. an area of phosphor on the inside of a cathode ray tube which fluoresces a particular colour). Now somewhat rare.

ΚΠ

1937 Discovery Nov. 329/1 This amount of definition is determined by the number of dot elements into which the picture is arbitrarily divided.

1959 K. Henney Radio Engin. Handbk. (ed. 5) xxii. 64 The shadow-mask holes and dots are so positioned that the electron beam from, for example, the green gun can strike only green-emitting dots.

2000 Cutting Edge: Encycl. Adv. Technol. 99/1 Fiber-optic imaging builds up pictures using an array of cables, similar to the way that television pictures are built up from an array of dots.

III. Extended and other uses.

12.

a. A person or thing that seems extremely small, either in comparison to the surrounding space or as a result of being very far away. Cf. speck n.¹ 1c.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > extension in space > reduction in size or extent > [noun] > apparent > that which appears to be reduced in size

prick?a1425

speck1656

dot1791

1791 S. Dobson tr. Petrarch View Human Life 178 The whole earth is but a dot in the universe.

1835 T. S. Fay Norman Leslie II. vi. 36 The sunshine was brightly reflected from countless villas, huts, towns, and palaces in the foreground, lifting their stone towers and walls from out the foliage of cyprus and olive, and in the distance faded to dots and specks.

1854 J. Mills Life of Racehorse vii. 42 Our trainer trotted forward, and, breaking into a hand-gallop, soon became a dwindled dot in the distance.

1992 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 13 June 15 The Comores—four dots in the ocean between Madagascar and continental Africa—are tropical islands.

2007 Independent 21 Feb. 31/1 You're far enough through the race to be ready to throw in the towel—and yet the finishing line is still a tiny dot on the horizon.

b. Something very small, or very small in comparison with others of its type; spec. (colloquial and regional) a small child.

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > person > baby or infant > [noun]

childOE

baban?c1225

fauntekin1377

infant1382

babea1393

fauntelet1393

babyc1400

lakinc1440

mop1440

chrisomer1574

tenderling1587

chrisom1596

childling1648

flosculet1648

bratling1652

lullaby-cheat1665

strangera1674

child (also infant, baby) in armsa1675

hoppet1695

tot1725

bambino1761

weanie1786

tiny1797

dot1800

trudgeon1814

toddle1825

toddles1828

yearnling1829

dab1833

toddler1837

baba1841

arrival1846

teeny-tiny1849

toddlekins1852

mite1853

trot1854

babelet1856

nestler1866

spoon-child1868

bubby1885

chavvy1886

bub1889

kiddy1889

toddleskin1890

newborn1893

kidlet1899

kidling1899

bubba1906

bundle of joy1924

liddly1929

mammet1932

snork1941

kiddywink1957

sproglet1987

1800 S. T. Coleridge tr. F. Schiller Piccolomini i. x. 43 Yield them up that dot, that speck of land.

1859 E. Capern Ballads & Songs (new ed.) 174 My bonny bright-eyed dot.

1901 Mind Oct. 75 The lady's husband was a big gruff man that didn't like pets anyway, and he seemed almost ashamed to own up that that little dot of a thing belonged to him.

1991 St Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 1 Dec. 1 f He was born 50 years ago in Caherciveen, a dot of a town on the southwestern coast of Ireland.

2012 Waikato Times (Hamilton, N.Z.) (Nexis) 16 Nov. 11 A wonderful photo of her standing on her tricycle seat as a little dot aged about 3 or 4.

†13. An act of striking a surface with the tip of an object. Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1858 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 27 May in French & Ital. Notebks. (1980) iv. 249 He..stumped on behind with a faster or slower dot of his crutch according to our pace.

B. prep. Mathematics.

Used to represent the point placed between two vector quantities to indicate that they are to be multiplied via the dot product (dot product n. at Compounds).

ΚΠ

1901 J. W. Gibbs & E. B. Wilson Vector Anal. ii. 55 This is read A dot B and therefore may often be called the dot product instead of the direct product.

1996 A. V. Durrant Vectors in Physics & Engin. ii. 48 The scalar product is often called the dot product, and in speech we say ‘a dot b’.

Phrases

P1.

a. to a dot: exactly, precisely; to the smallest detail. Cf. to a T at T n. 1c, to a tittle at tittle n. Phrases 2.Perhaps with reference to putting the dot over the letter i: cf. to dot the i's at dot v.¹ Phrases.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > freedom from error, correctness > exactness, accuracy, precision > [adverb] > strictly

strait1338

smally1340

at point devicec1390

point-devicec1425

precisely1526

to the point device1542

just1549

rigorously1561

by the square1570

curiously1573

by point device1575

in print1576

to a tittle1597

nicelya1616

to a hair's breadtha1616

point-vice1641

to a nicka1680

to a cow's thumb1681

to a tee1693

narrowly1708

scrupulously1712

to a dot1728

perjinkly1775

to a nicety1795

astringently1866

to a fit1890

1728 H. Fielding Love in Several Masques ii. ix. 25 La. Trap. Are you blind? they are both alike to a Tittle. Sir Pos. To a dot. Her Hand to a dot.

1800 European Mag. & London Rev. Sept. 211/2 Ay, here correct, the angles to a dot.

1881 Congress. Globe 20 Apr. 356/1 That is the question. That is it to a dot.

1924 R. Kipling Debits & Credits (1926) 312 You have it!.. That's him to a dot.

1994 M. S. Joshi Guru A. Dev iii. 68 Guru Arjan fulfills the requirements of the rules to a dot.

b. on the dot: exactly on time; punctually. Cf. on the dot of at Phrases 1c.With reference to the dots or points marking numbers on a clock face.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > a suitable time or opportunity > punctuality > [adverb]

punctually1652

critically1655

sharp1840

on time1854

prompt1869

on the dot1875

dot1894

prepunctually1894

on or to the tick1902

1875 Youth's Compan. 13 May 147/4 You're right on the dot, my boy.

1953 W. R. Burnett Vanity Row vii. 58 She's always been very scrupulous about settling her bill on the dot.

2018 Business Mirror (Philippines) (Nexis) 29 Apr. She arrived on the dot, at half past six, in time for cocktails.

c. In prepositional phrases with of (a time), as at the dot of, from the dot of, on the dot of, etc.: at, from, etc., the exact time specified.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > a suitable time or opportunity > punctuality > [adverb]

punctually1652

critically1655

sharp1840

on time1854

prompt1869

on the dot1875

dot1894

prepunctually1894

on or to the tick1902

1894 Youth's Compan. 21 June 287/1 On the dot of twelve No. 27 came roaring through the cut.

1914 Harper's Monthly Mag. Dec. 216/1 If you are here at the dot of nine you will see a light hydroplane.

1923 H. Crane Let. 21 June (1965) 137 From the dot of five till two in the morning.

1977 J. Lees-Milne Diary 2 Aug. in Through Wood & Dale (2001) 177 Meals are on the dot of nine for breakfast and eight for dinner. You are expected to be assembled promptly.

2009 J. Fluke Plum Pudding Murder (2010) iii. 25 The information was dispensed fast and heavy with no break for questions until the dot of seven twenty-five.

P2.

the year dot n. (occasionally also year dot) colloquial (originally and chiefly British) a time in the distant past, a very long time ago.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > relative time > the past > [noun] > time long past or long ago

fern-daysOE

yesterdayOE

antiquityc1375

ancienty1489

eldc1540

father-age1633

auld lang syne1666

(the) year one1754

ancientry1755

aforetime1803

good (also bad) old days1828

long-ago1831

eld-time1845

the year dot1857

old times1898

1857 H. A. Murray Land of Slaves & Free 47 Our ancestors adopted this system in the year dot, before one was invented.

1873 Ipswich Jrnl. 25 Mar. 1/3 Some of the liveries I think, to use a homely phrase, were made in the year dot.

1928 E. Wallace Again Sanders v. 109 He was constantly rediscovering obvious things, or revivifying theories that had been decently interred in the year dot.

2003 Smut Summer Special 36/1 The old git has been a season ticket holder and has sat in the same seat since the year dot.

P3. colloquial and regional (originally and chiefly British). (to go) off one's dot: (to go) out of one's mind; (to go) crazy.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > [adjective] > insanity or madness > affected with

woodc725

woodsekc890

giddyc1000

out of (by, from, of) wit or one's witc1000

witlessc1000

brainsickOE

amadc1225

lunaticc1290

madc1330

sickc1340

brain-wooda1375

out of one's minda1387

frenetica1398

fonda1400

formada1400

unwisea1400

brainc1400

unwholec1400

alienate?a1425

brainless1434

distract of one's wits1470

madfula1475

furious1475

distract1481

fro oneself1483

beside oneself1490

beside one's patience1490

dementa1500

red-wood?1507

extraught1509

misminded1509

peevish1523

bedlam-ripe1525

straughta1529

fanatic1533

bedlama1535

daft1540

unsounda1547

stark raving (also staring) mad1548

distraughted1572

insane1575

acrazeda1577

past oneself1576

frenzy1577

poll-mad1577

out of one's senses1580

maddeda1586

frenetical1588

distempered1593

distraught1597

crazed1599

diswitted1599

idle-headed1599

lymphatical1603

extract1608

madling1608

distracteda1616

informala1616

far gone1616

crazy1617

March mada1625

non compos mentis1628

brain-crazed1632

demented1632

crack-brained1634

arreptitiousa1641

dementate1640

dementated1650

brain-crackeda1652

insaniated1652

exsensed1654

bedlam-witteda1657

lymphatic1656

mad-like1679

dementative1685

non compos1699

beside one's gravity1716

hyte1720

lymphated1727

out of one's head1733

maddened1735

swivel-eyed1758

wrong1765

brainsickly1770

fatuous1773

derangedc1790

alienated1793

shake-brained1793

crack-headed1796

flighty1802

wowf1802

doitrified1808

phrenesiac1814

bedlamite1815

mad-braineda1822

fey1823

bedlamitish1824

skire1825

beside one's wits1827

as mad as a hatter1829

crazied1842

off one's head1842

bemadded1850

loco1852

off one's nut1858

off his chump1864

unsane1867

meshuga1868

non-sane1868

loony1872

bee-headed1879

off one's onion1881

off one's base1882

(to go) off one's dot1883

locoed1885

screwy1887

off one's rocker1890

balmy or barmy on (or in) the crumpet1891

meshuggener1892

nutty1892

buggy1893

bughouse1894

off one's pannikin1894

ratty1895

off one's trolley1896

batchy1898

twisted1900

batsc1901

batty1903

dippy1903

bugs1904

dingy1904

up the (also a) pole1904

nut1906

nuts1908

nutty as a fruitcake1911

bugged1920

potty1920

cuckoo1923

nutsy1923

puggled1923

blah1924

détraqué1925

doolally1925

off one's rocket1925

puggle1925

mental1927

phooey1927

crackers1928

squirrelly1928

over the edge1929

round the bend1929

lakes1934

ding-a-ling1935

wacky1935

screwball1936

dingbats1937

Asiatic1938

parlatic1941

troppo1941

up the creek1941

screwed-up1943

bonkers1945

psychological1952

out to lunch1955

starkers1956

off (one's) squiff1960

round the twist1960

yampy1963

out of (also off) one's bird1966

out of one's skull1967

whacked out1969

batshit1971

woo-woo1971

nutso1973

out of (one's) gourd1977

wacko1977

off one's meds1986

1883 Funny Folks 14 July 221/1 Though it is scarcely a rational amusement, those who engage in it are not by any means ‘off their “dot”’.

1919 H. Walpole Secret City iii. x. 391 She says he's just goin' off his dot.

2017 @BrendaLalonde7 1 Feb. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) He will be known as ‘The Cheese Stands Alone’ because every country thinks he's off his dot. And they're right.

P4. dot, dot, dot: used (esp. in speech and representations of speech) to indicate something such as omission or ellipsis of some words or text, a pause or break in a sentence, etc., which is typically represented in writing by a sequence of three dots; see sense A. 5b.

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1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 22 Feb. 5/1 The true letter-reader will never endure to be scanted of the smallest P.S... We are luxuriously eavesdropping while Swift in his night-gown and slippers babbles his ‘little language’ to Stella, and when he abruptly breaks off a dot, dot, dot, we have a sensation of sudden deafness.

1958 N.Y. Times 7 Aug. 23/3 I can't do this to her, dot, dot, dot, now!

2017 C. Wang Takedown lxii. 275 Fawn and Sharma swore they weren't leaving because they were mad or were choosing sides, but, well, dot-dot-dot.

P5. to connect (also join) the dots and variants: (chiefly as a children's activity) to draw lines sequentially linking numbered points arranged on a page so as to form a picture; (hence figurative) to integrate discrete elements into a cohesive whole; to make connections between ideas, to draw conclusions.to join the dots is the more common form in British English, especially in the literal use, while to connect the dots is more usual in North America.

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1909 Sun (Baltimore) 6 June 19/5 If you will take a pencil and correctly connect the dots by straight lines you will get a drawing.

1915 Charleston (W. Va.) Mail 23 Nov. 9/5 To solve the Great Dot Mystery, join the dots with a pencil line... Begin with dot No. 1 and take them in numerical order.

1974 Harper's Mag. Mar. 39/2 If McCulloch had the vision, then C. V. Wood connected the dots. He is the grand strategist of the ‘new city’ campaign.

2001 New Yorker 16 Apr. 78/2 Connecting sparse dots, Bailey works up a highly plausible account of the master's life and career.

2013 Daily Tel. 6 Feb. 23/4 Massenet is busy joining the dots between venture capitalists and bankers and the country's brightest design talent.

P6. from (also since) day dot and variants: from the very beginning; since something first began.Cf. the year dot n., from day one.

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the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > beginning > at the beginning [phrase] > from the beginning

from first to last1536

ab origine1537

ab ovoa1586

ab initio1600

from the word go1834

from the jump1848

from the get-go1960

from (also since) day dot1964

1964 Time & Tide 26 Nov. 29/2 This is the kind of morality play which has been dished up since the day dot.

1998 Observer (Nexis) 1 Mar. 26 I was..privileged to have had parents who made sure, from the day dot, that..I would have the education and training to make my own way.

2019 W. Attwood Asperger's Syndrome & Jail xvi. 257 Be assertive from day dot... Be polite and respectful, but draw the line at taking any bullshit.

P7.

dot-to-dot adj. and n. (a) adj. designating a puzzle with the object of drawing lines sequentially linking numbered points arranged on a page, so as to form a picture; (b) n. a puzzle of this kind.Cf. connect-the-dots adj. 1, join-the-dots adj. 1.

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1919 Little Folks Jan. 172 (heading) A dot-to-dot puzzle.

1977 Washington Post 1 May e4/2 Stories and participation activities like dot-to-dots and finding what's wrong with the pictures.

1994 Today's Parent Oct. 63/1 Katie won't settle without doing several dot-to-dot drawings.

2017 Daily Tel. (National ed.) (Nexis) 11 Apr. 19 Other ‘mindfulness aids’ like adult colouring books and dot-to-dot.

†P8. Military slang. to put dots on: to bore, weary. Obsolete. rare.

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1919 War Slang in Athenæum 8 Aug. 727/2 If a man is boring or tiresome he is said to ‘put dots on one’.

Compounds

dot ball n. Cricket a delivery from which no runs are scored, recorded in the scorebook with a dot.

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1982 Guardian 23 Jan. 25/1 Only 19 dot balls off which he failed to score.

2018 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 17 Jan. (Sport section) The collective mantra is on taking wickets consistently rather than bowling dot balls to deflect pressure on the opposition batsmen.

dot blot n. Biochemistry a simplified blotting technique (see blotting n. Additions) for identifying or quantifying nucleic acids and proteins in which samples are applied directly to a paper or membrane as spots; frequently attributive; (also) the distribution pattern of such spots on the paper or membrane to which they have been applied.

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1980 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77 5202/1 (heading) Dot blot hybridization. The pretreated RNA or DNA samples..are spotted directly onto dry nitrocellulose paper.

1995 Jrnl. Infectious Dis. 171 1516/1 While many of the DNA samples on the dot blots either clearly did or did not hybridize with a given probe, some gave intermediate levels of hybridization intensity.

2015 @ineehaa 26 Oct. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Oh how i haaaate doing dot blot assays, spending 8 hours on an experiment to get zero results.

dot chart n. Statistics any of several types of chart in which dots are used to represent data points or the frequency of a particular category within a data set; spec. (in later use) = dot plot n. (b).

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1912 21st Ann. Rep. Ohio State Acad. Sci. 6 258 (caption) Dot chart showing the relation between the mean temperature for March and the yield of winter wheat in Ohio.

1917 Publ. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 15 676 The data may be replotted on a new dot chart.

1984 Jrnl. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 79 545/1 We prefer dot charts..to bar charts.

2014 H. Wainer Med. Illuminations iv. 73 I would like to emphasize the value of replacing the bar chart format with dot charts.

dot command n. Computing a command whose name begins with a dot, spec. (a) a command used in a word processor to control the formatting of a document (now rare); (b) (in Unix and Unix-like operating systems) a command used to evaluate all commands in a particular file.

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1983 InfoWorld 3 Jan. 10/1 Mnemonics, those annoying one- to three-letter control sequences or dot commands that most microcomputer word processors have, are used here as well.

2005 A. Robbins & N. H. F. Beebe Classic Shell Scripting vii. 172 If you have a number of shell functions that you would like to use in multiple scripts, the right way to do this is to place them in a separate ‘library’ file, and then read them with the dot command.

dot-connect v. intransitive to integrate discrete elements into a cohesive whole; to make connections between ideas, to draw conclusions; cf. to connect the dots at Phrases 5.

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2003 National Post (Canada) (Nexis) 25 Oct. (Toronto ed.) to1/6 To be exact, she was the author's stepdaughter-in-law. Stay with me as we dot-connect.

2004 Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 20 Aug. (Opinion section) 21 For a report devoted to dissecting the pre-9/11 failure to dot-connect, it oddly avoids connecting its own findings into the strategy to which they logically point.

2017 @independent_i_ 9 Dec. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) It's not that hard to figure out. All you have to do is have an awareness of history and the ability to dot-connect.

dot-connecting n. and adj. [after to connect the dots at Phrases 5] (a) n. the action or activity of doing a connect-the-dots puzzle; (usually figurative) the action or fact of making connections between ideas or drawing conclusions; (b) adj. designating a line drawn between dots, as in a connect-the-dots puzzle; (usually figurative) straightforward, formulaic; (also) that makes connections between ideas.Cf. dot-to-dot adj. and n. at Phrases 7, connect-the-dots adj. and n.

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1948 Trained Nurse & Hosp. Rev. Mar. 220/2 From the first page to the last it is an absorbing child-world chock full of board games; dot-connecting pictures; funny poems..and lessons in cartooning for the ‘art-minded’.

1962 K. A. Menninger et al. Man. Psychiatric Case Study (ed. 2) 156 This device for daily nursing records requires only four pencil dots per day and four dot-connecting lines drawn once a month!

1992 USA Today (Nexis) 24 Dec. (Final ed.) (Life section) 3 d A dreary dot-connecting flashback script, which reduces people and events to walk-ons.

1999 L. J. Davis Truth to Tell v. 138 The Latin expression for such fallacious dot-connecting is ‘post hoc, ergo propter hoc’.

2017 @pragmatist20152 28 Aug. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) I really do appreciate your sleuthing, dot-connecting threads.

dot-dashed adj. designating a curve or line drawn or marked out with a repeated sequence of alternating dots and dashes, usually in order to distinguish it from other, dotted or solid, lines.

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1917 T. W. Croft Pract. Electr. xxxvi. 427 The dot-dashed line shows how that portion of the terminal voltage due to the series winding increases as the load increases.

1992 T. M. Holden et al. in M. T. Hutchings & A. D. Krawitz Measurem. of Residual & Appl. Stress using Neutron Diffraction ii. 100 Dashed and dot-dashed curves were computed with the appropriate diffraction elastic constants.

2005 N.Y. Times 15 Feb. (Late ed.) (Science Times section) f3/1 [Origami] pattern is a network of dashed and dot-dashed lines indicating where paper is to be creased.

dot etching n. (in photolithography) any of several methods of increasing or reducing the amount of tone or colour in a particular area of a half-tone negative or positive by means of adjusting the sizes of individual dots.

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1937 J. S. Mertle Photolithogr. & Offset Printing ix. 138 The halftone positive for dot etching may be made either in the camera (from continuous tone negatives), or it may be made by contact printing from a halftone negative.

2005 P. Masterson Bk. Design & Production 225 Dot etching on negatives increases color; dot etching on positives reduces color.

dot file n. (in Unix and Unix-like operating systems) a file or folder whose name begins with a dot, causing the file to be treated as hidden by file-listing and browsing utilities.

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1981 Easy Newsgroup Deletion in net.news.b (Usenet newsgroup) 21 Dec. It does three things: 1) removes the subdirectory (and the ‘dot’ file), 2) disallows new entries for that newsgroup in the ngfile, and 3) updates the active file.

2002 M. Joy et al. Introducing UNIX & Linux v. 67 Never delete or edit a dot file unless you know what it should contain, even if it's empty.

† dot-hole n. Mining (Obsolete rare) a column of ore running into the rock, esp. one having soft material (e.g. clay) at its centre; = sense A. 7.

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1747 W. Hooson Miners Dict. Dots, and Dot-Holes, round holes of Ore, runing into the hard Stone, especially in Pipes, much like those called Blanches.

dot map n. a chart or map using dots to show the distribution of something over a geographical region, each dot representing the recorded presence or occurrence of a particular feature or event.

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1896 Trans. Epidemiol. Soc. 1895–6 15 30 Yet in plain contradiction to the dot map, the Table makes older houses to have suffered more than newer houses.

1939 Geogr. Jrnl. 93 274 The printing of the dot-map of the population of Australia gives some wrong impressions in detail.

2011 Bryologist 114 271/1 Dot maps are provided for the West Indian distribution of each species.

dot pitch n. (in photolithography, printing, electronic display, etc.) a measure of the density of dots used in forming an image, and hence the sharpness of that image; esp. (in later use) the smallest distance in an electronic display between two subpixels (subpixel adj. and n. (b) at sub- prefix 3d(b)) of the same colour.In printing dot pitch is typically expressed as the number of dots per square inch.

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1963 U.S. Patent 3,109,239 3 In a system wherein the dot pitch is 150 to the inch and the red screen has the dots disposed at 45°, the back screen at 75°, the blue screen at 105°, and the yellow screen at 90°, the swinging of the arm..from one position to the other over a particular screen in question will enable the user to quickly identity the exact angle.

1975 IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 30 505/2 The color matrix LCD with 56 × 56 dots and the dot pitch of 300 μm was made as a trial.

2008 Maximum PC Dec. 103/1 Text appears slightly more coarse with a bigger dot pitch.

dot plant n. a plant used in garden design to stand out in an area of another type of plant, having a different colour, height, etc., to those which surround it.

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1875 Garden 31 July 81/2 The singular flat table-like character of its growth rendering it peculiarly useful as a ‘dot’ plant on a bed of Sedums or other carpet plants.

1950 Irish Times 18 May 6/9 Geraniums are somewhat expensive, but they may be eked out by using them as dot plants in beds carpeted with white alyssum.

2017 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 3 June A simple design needs..dot plants that stand proud to make a focal point.

dot plot n. Statistics any of several types of chart in which dots are used to represent data points or the frequency of a particular category within a data set; esp.: (a) a diagram in which different variables are plotted along each axis and data is represented by dots, the position of each dot being determined by the values of those variables for the data point associated with it; = scatter plot n. at scatter n. Compounds (now somewhat rare); (b) a chart in which each quantity or frequency is indicated by the position of a single dot relative to the horizontal axis; (c) a chart in which quantities or frequencies are represented by columns of equally spaced dots.

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1959 H. M. Brody Photoproduction Positive K Mesons in Hydrogen (Ph.D thesis, Calif. Inst. Technol.) 60 (caption) Pulse height correlation (dot plot).

1993 Jrnl. Computational & Graphical Statistics 5 154 In this account we used dot plots, scatterplots, curve plots, and wireframes.

2003 D. H. Stamatis Six Sigma & Beyond IV. iii. 58 Dot plots are very useful if you want to compare two or more sets of data for location and spread.

dot point n. now chiefly Australian each of a series of items in a written or printed list, introduced by a round dot (also in extended use); (also) the round dot used to mark such an item; = bullet point n. at bullet n.¹ Additions.

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1978 Chicago-Midway Low-fare Route Proceeding: Final Environmental Impact Statem. (U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board) 5 The last three dot points are examples of FAA coordinated implementation procedures.

1995 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 22 July 20 In the office, Howard talks through issues, thinking in dot points, rather than absorbing wads of briefing notes.

1998 Re: WWW Browser for C64? in comp.sys.cbm (Usenet newsgroup) 11 Dec. Little GIFs for things like dot points and arrows, which people always seem to forget ALT tags for.

2008 P. F. Downton Ecopolis (2009) vii. 247 The text..described..how the proposed development would address each dot point in the Council's demanding brief.

dot product n. the sum of the products of corresponding coordinates of two real (real adj.² 5) vectors, or of the products of the coordinates of the second of two complex (complex adj. 2d) vectors and the complex conjugates of the corresponding coordinates of the first.The dot product is typically represented by a dot placed between the two vectors.

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1901 J. W. Gibbs & E. B. Wilson Vector Anal. ii. 55 The direct product is denoted by writing the two vectors with a dot between them as A·B. This is read A dot B and therefore may often be called the dot product instead of the direct product.

1933 H. B. Phillips Vector Anal. x. 217 A linear equation satisfied by dyads will remain valid if each dyad is replaced by the dot or cross product of its two vectors.

2011 P. M. Higgins Numbers: Very Short Introd. viii. 118 Each entry in the products matrix is formed by taking the dot product of a row of the first matrix with a column of the second.

dot punch n. a tool similar to a centre punch (centre punch n. at centre n.¹ and adj. Compounds 3) but typically thinner, lighter, and having a sharper tip, used for marking the centre of a hole that is to be drilled, or (more generally) for making an indentation in the surface of an object.

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1862 Internat. Exhib.: Juror's Rep. xiii. 71/1 The paper is thus drawn forward one, two, or three times the length of the dot punch.

1938 Proc. Royal Irish Acad. 1937–8 C. 44 188 Impressions of ball or dot punches may be found on many works.

2002 D. Salmon & P. Powdrill Mech. Engin. vii. 185 Dot punches are also used to punch dimples for marking out lengths with dividers.

dot-sequential adj. now historical and rare designating a system of colour television in which dots (sense A. 11) of the three primary colours are formed in succession by multiple cathode ray tubes and combined into a single image.Introduced in 1949, the dot-sequential system saw only limited success and was soon superseded by systems employing shadow masks or aperture grilles.

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1949 Communications Oct. 5/1 The eighth system recently announced is the dot-sequential approach with 15 color pictures and 60 fields, with a dot and line interlace.

1951 Britannica Bk. of Year 617/2 A dot-sequential system..in which the colour is changed for each picture element or dot.

dot wheel n. now rare a toothed wheel mounted in a handle, which when rolled over a surface produces a dotted line, by scoring, inking, impressing, etc., the surface.

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1884 St. Nicholas May 572/1 You may finish by going over the outline with a dot-wheel.

1961 Technol. & Culture 2 47 Early duplicates were made by..tracing over (like carbon paper) with scriber or dot wheel.

Derivatives

dot-like adj.

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1813 J. E. Smith Eng. Bot. XXXV. 2472 Receptacles scattered, minute, dot-like, solid, black.

1922 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 30 Dec. 1261/1 The arrangement of dots is really a projection on a vertical plane of two dot-like objects at different distances from the place of observation.

2014 T. Travis & S. Brown Pocketguide Eastern Wetlands v. 148 Bark is brown or gray with raised, dot-like growths.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

dotv.¹

Brit.

/dɒt/, U.S.

/dɑt/

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: dot n.¹

Etymology: < dot n.¹ Compare earlier point v.¹With sense 6 compare earlier dot and carry one n., dot and go one adj.

a. transitive. To use a dot or point to modify the meaning, pronunciation, or value of (a letter), or the length of (a musical note). Cf. dot n.¹ 5a, dot n.¹ 6.

ΚΠ

1684 N. S. tr. R. Simon Crit. Enq. Editions Bible vi. 39 The similitude between the Letters Mem and Beth, especially in some Manuscripts, where the Letters are dotted at the top.

1813 J. M. Good et al. Pantologia at Music Compound triple time is formed by dividing the measures of simple triple into nine parts, and by dotting the measure note of the original time.

1900 Grove's Dict. Music II. 221 Notes dashed, dotted, or emphasized..are Martellées or Martellate in execution.

2014 R. Baalbaki Arabic Lexicogr. Trad. i. 1 It is now almost certain..that dotting letters cannot be attributed to Naṣr b. ۦᾹṣim.

b. transitive. To put a dot (dot n.¹ 5c) over (the letter i, j, or (formerly) y). Frequently in passive. See also to dot the i's (and cross the t's) at Phrases.

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1804 J. Ingram Inaug. Lect. Utility Anglo-Saxon Lit. App. III. 51 The Saxons dotted the ẏ instead of the i.

1865 Cornhill Mag. Aug. 254 None of the i's are dotted, the dot being first used towards the end of the fourteenth century.

1932 Jrnl. Educ. Res. 26 256 (table) Difficulty dotting ‘i’.

2006 G. Sharma Teach yourself Graphol. xix. 121 Small t's crossed with precise stroke and small i's and j's dotted with even-pressured, heavy dots.

a. transitive. To draw (a line) or trace out (a shape or figure) using dots; (also) to fill in (a shape or figure) with dots. More usually to dot in at Phrasal verbs, to dot out at Phrasal verbs. Cf. dotted line n. 1.

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1723 E. Stone tr. N. Bion Constr. & Principal Uses Math. Instruments 2 They [sc. Lines] are dotted, which is done with a Dotting-Wheel.

1851 Appleton's Mechanic's Mag. 1 May 371/2 In dotting the outline, or cutting shallow works with large tools, the stone may be held quite horizontal.

1955 Amer. Jrnl. Archaeol. 59 57/1 This was previously indicated by shading in a drawing, or by dotting the entire outline of the letter in majuscule text.

2013 @48v 26 Nov. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Dotting a line by hand in AutoCAD. There has to be a better way.

b. transitive. To mark (something or someone) with a dot or dots; to place a dot or dots on the surface of (an object). Also intransitive.

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1734 Pleasant Compan. iii. 34 He..dotted every one upon the Forehead with one, two or three Dots.

1852 H. Alford Let. Sept. in Life, Jrnls. & Lett. (1873) vi. 212 The choice geraniums are where I have dotted my plan.

1910 Amer. Photogr. 4 470 Practice dotting and stippling as in illustration (6).

1978 Jrnl. Infectious Dis. 138 737/2 Eight wells were made on each slide by dotting the slide with tiny drops of glycerol.

2018 China Daily (Nexis) 4 Aug. Dipping a brush in red paint and dotting the bulging eyes of the carved dragon heads.

a. transitive. Of a number of similar things: to occur at intervals throughout (an area) or over (a surface).

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > variegation > spot of colour > spot [verb (transitive)] > speckle

powderc1380

besprenga1425

prick1530

sprinkle1551

peckle1570

speckle1570

speck1580

pepper?1605

pounce1610

freckle1613

freck1621

stipplea1774

punctuate1777

dot1784

puncture1848

bespeckle1860

prickle1888

tick1910

1784 J. Byng Diary 19 July in Torrington Diaries (1934) I. 179 All the approaching ground is pitifully dotted with mean plantations of fir and larch.

1858 Harper's Mag. Mar. 495/1 Silvery catkins dot the willows.

1892 Harper's Mag. Sept. 590/1 Everywhere dotting the sand..are rough misshapen tracks of mud-terrapins.

1919 Outing Mar. 301 (caption) The prong-horn antelope once dotted the western plains.

2015 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 28 May c4/4 The camera lingers on bare floors dotted with open suitcases.

b. transitive. figurative and in figurative contexts. To be scattered throughout; to occur sporadically within or during.

ΚΠ

1842 J. F. Cooper Two Admirals III. x. 280 The fate of the Blenheim was one of those impressive blanks that dot the pages of nautical history.

1853 J. Cumming Foreshadows ix. 242 Her nation's history was dotted with judgements from the Lord.

1933 Social Forces 12 252/2 His book is dotted with references to African correspondences.

1979 N. R. Shapiro in tr. G. Feydeau Tooth & Consequences Introd. 4 The jovial one-acters written at the beginning of his career and those that dotted it sporadically throughout were a far cry from the late tableaux of marital bedlam and breakup.

2018 South Bend (Indiana) Tribune (Nexis) 28 Jan. a1 His past was dotted with jail stays.

4. transitive. With adverb, adverbial phrase, or prepositional phrase as complement. To disperse or scatter (a number of similar things) at intervals throughout an area or over a surface. Usually in passive.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being scattered or dispersed > scatter [verb (transitive)] > scatter here and there at intervals > place at intervals over a surface

disseminate1682

dot1786

stud1823

stud1652

dot1786

1786 W. Gilpin Observ. Picturesque Beauty II. xxxi. 259 Sheep are often ornamental, when dotted about the sides of distant hills.

1839 Times 11 Mar. 5/5 The pit was well filled by the time the opera had commenced, and the empty boxes were the mere exceptions, dotted here and there.

1894 Jrnl. Hort., Cottage Gardener & Home Farmer 5 Apr. 256/2 In order to produce a fine effect it is important not to dot the bulbs about indiscriminately, but rather to plant large masses of each variety.

2016 West Austral. (Perth) (Nexis) 13 Aug. (Travel section) 12 Sun lounges and day beds are dotted among the palm trees.

5. transitive. To note down briefly and hastily; to jot. Chiefly with down; cf. to jot down at jot v.²

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society > communication > writing > manner of writing > [verb (transitive)] > write down hastily

slap1672

to run off1680

dash1726

jot1735

dash off, out1786

dot1797

splash1897

1797 J. Meikle Metaphysical Maxims 128 A number of arithmeticians employed for an age, in dotting down figures in one straight line.

1845 R. Ford Hand-bk. Travellers in Spain I. i. 58 One word dotted down on the spot is worth a cart-load of recollections.

1894 London Reader 31 Mar. 572/1 Mr. Reeves swiftly dotted a few words down on a piece of paper.

1937 Musical Times 78 596/2 The composer has now a few days until the film is finally cut, during which he can dot down tentative ideas.

2018 www.fanfiction.net 7 Aug. (O.E.D. Archive) She dotted a few words onto the chart.

†6. intransitive. To move with a jerky or uneven gait; to limp (with a particular leg). Also with off. Cf. dot and carry one n., adj., and adv., dot and go one adj., n., and adv. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > walk, tread, or step [verb (intransitive)] > limp

haltc825

cripplec1220

hip1440

limp1570

linch1570

claudicate1623

hop1700

crimple1754

hilch1786

crutch1828

hamble1828

dot1843

peg-leg1969

1843 Veterinarian Apr. 230 He ‘dotted’ with the near hind leg.

1870 Shamrock (Dublin) 19 Nov. 120/2 He dotted about the dock in an absolute frenzy of rage and disappointment.

1924 Chambers's Jrnl. 14 124/2 The ungrateful little brute..dotted off, wagging his skinny tail.

7. transitive. slang (originally and chiefly British). To hit, punch (a person); esp. in to dot (a person) one.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > impact > striking > strike [verb (transitive)] > specific animate object

drepeOE

smitec1200

buffet?c1225

strike1377

rapa1400

seta1400

frontc1400

ballc1450

throw1488

to bear (a person) a blow1530

fetch1556

douse1559

knetcha1564

slat1577

to hit any one a blow1597

wherret1599

alapate1609

shock1614

baske1642

measure1652

plump1785

jow1802

nobble1841

scuff1841

clump1864

bust1873

plonk1874

to sock it to1877

dot1881

biff1888

dong1889

slosh1890

to soak it to1892

to cop (a person) one1898

poke1906

to hang one on1908

bop1931

clonk1949

1881 Newcastle Courant 2 Sept. 6/5 Did you hear he dotted the Raven a while ago?

1951 J. B. Priestley Festival at Farbridge 348 Any monkey tricks an' I'll dot yer one.

2002 Symbolic Interaction 25 521 A forty-year-old drunk dots me one.

Phrases

to dot the i's (and cross the t's) and variants: to pay attention to every detail, esp. when finishing off a task or undertaking; to be accurate and precise. Cf. to cross the t's at T n. 1b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > the quality of being specific > become specific [verb (intransitive)] > come to particulars > go into detail

particulate1596

particularize1601

intrinsicate1603

specialize1613

to go into ——1697

to dot the i's (and cross the t's)1820

1820 Daily National Intelligencer (Washington) 1 Feb. Pray, sir, what is the object of referring a bill to a committee—merely to dot the i's and cross the t's?

1921 Sat. Evening Post 8 Jan. 142/2 Don't worry over what I think about dotting i's—go ahead with the murder.

1979 Cincinnati Mag. May 79/1 No lawyers, no dotting the i's or crossing the t's, just a simple handshake.

2002 New Republic 18 Nov. 16/1 We've crossed every t and dotted every i. We've left nothing to chance.

Phrasal verbs

to dot in

transitive. To draw (a line) or trace out (a shape or figure) using dots; (also and in earliest use) to fill in (a shape or figure) with dots. Cf. to dot out at Phrasal verbs.

ΚΠ

1811 J. Parkins Young Man's Best Compan. 524 To imagine that the picture was entirely dotted in.

1892 Proc. Royal Geogr. Soc. 14 300 Where I have not been able to make such observations I have merely dotted in their probable courses.

1962 Pop. Mech. Dec. 134 When the pattern lines are all dotted-in, draw the curved lines.

2005 South Bend (Indiana) Tribune (Nexis) 17 Nov. e1 He dotted in, with a gel pen, the shape of their faces.

to dot down

transitive and intransitive. Rugby. To ground (the ball) on or behind the opposing team's try line and thereby score a try. Cf. to touch down 1a at touch v. Phrasal verbs.Occasionally with the try as object, as in quot. 1956.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > play rugby football [verb (intransitive)] > score

to run in1858

to dot down1956

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > play rugby football [verb (transitive)] > score

pot1856

secure1866

convert1896

goal1900

majorize1904

to dot down1956

1956 R. Sweet Kiwis Conquer x. 104 Leaving a trail of defenders behind him, Jaap Bekker dots down the first of his two tries.

1959 Observer 13 Sept. 32/6 A brisk little Maori centre-three-quarter..fly-kicked the ball ahead and dotted down for a try.

1976 Times 21 Feb. 17/6 King dotted the ball down between the posts. Akenhead converted.

2007 Rugby World Mar. 122 Few deemed France model champs last year but they dotted down 18 times, so who are we to quibble?

to dot off

transitive. To list (items) mentally or verbally one by one, esp. while counting on the fingers; (also) to deal with one by one; to tick off.

ΚΠ

1858 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Nov. 276/1 He dotted off on his fingers the amount of poultry.

1904 L. T. Meade Love Triumphant i. ii She recounted a little list of famous women,..dotting them off on her slender fingers.

2015 Daily Mirror (Nexis) 23 Jan. (Beat section) 5 Sunil's gig schedule has increased considerably around Europe,..dotting off many other countries along the way.

to dot out

transitive. To draw (a line) or trace out (a shape or figure) using dots; (also) to fill in (a shape or figure) with dots. Cf. to dot in at Phrasal verbs.

ΚΠ

1745 R. Pococke Descr. East II. ii. ii. 43 The plan of the lower part is dotted out.

1820 London Mag. Apr. 404 He who can cut the clearest stroke on a copper-plate, or dot out the softest shadow..is the best engraver.

1949 PMLA 64 1206 Dotting out the blank space left at the end of the line.

2018 Stud. Amer. Indian Lit. 30 2 Faint trails dotted out on hundred-year-old maps.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	dot
释义	dotn.¹prep. Brit. /dɒt/, U.S. /dɑt/ Forms: Old English 1600s–1800s dott, 1500s– dot, 1600s–1700s dote. Origin: Of uncertain origin. Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps ultimately expressive. Perhaps related to any or all of: Dutch dot knot or bunch of thread (1669; perhaps compare earlier dodde in lischdodden reedmace (1554)), tuft of unspun wool or similar material (1704), lump (1770), small child (1836), German regional (Low German) Dutt , Dutten , Dott , Dotte heap, lump, bundle, knot (especially of hair), Icelandic dotti spot, stain, Swedish regional dott wad, Norwegian dott wad (of wool), wisp (of hay), Danish dot lump, bundle (especially of wool or flax), wisp (now rare and regional), although none of these is attested early. Compare dit v. and its Scandinavian parallels, which could perhaps show a weak Class I verb derived from the same Germanic base as these words. In regional use in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, the nouns apparently can have the specific sense of wads used to stop up openings or holes, which could support such a connection. Compare dottle n.² 1.In Old English in an isolated attestation. Not attested from the Middle English period; however, compare dottle n.² The semantic development in English is not entirely clear, but perhaps the original sense was ‘lump, small piece of matter’ and use with reference to the head of a boil (see sense A. 1) was a specific use of that sense. With sense A. 12 perhaps compare senses of tot n.⁴ A. n.¹ I. A small lump, spot, or mark. 1. The head of a boil. English regional (Yorkshire) in later use. rare.The otherwise isolated modern English use in quot. 1963 could alternatively show a contextual use of sense A. 3. ΚΠ OE Lacnunga (2001) I. lxxxiii. 70 Geopenige mon þonne þone dott & binde þone cliðan to þan swyle. 1963 H. Orton & W. J. Halliday Surv. Eng. Dial. I. ii. 679 Q[uestion]. Have you a special word for the centre of a boil?..[Yorkshire] Dot. 2. A small lump of some (typically viscous) substance; a clot; a blob. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > an assemblage or collection > [noun] > mass formed by collection of particles > dense or compact > small dot1570 knoba1637 molecula1713 knibloch1718 hunchet1790 nublet1863 1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Oiv/2 A Dot, obstructorium. 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Cracher vn Iacobin, to spit out a collop, or dot of flegme. 1771 E. Gilchrist Use Sea Voy. in Med. (new ed.) Suppl. 241 A discharge of phlegm, mixed with small dots of greenish matter. 1842 Chambers's Information for People (new ed.) II. 542/2 When commencing from a hole, the ball may be cogged up on the point of a dot of mud or turf, to allow of a commanding stroke. 1920 Warren Cook Bk. (ed. 5) 144 A few dots of butter or lard placed on upper crust before baking will increase flakiness. 2000 I. Rilke tr. A. Japin Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi 127 She peeled off her gloves and rubbed a dot of jelly over her knuckles. 3. A small, roundish, naturally occurring spot, speck, or mark of a different colour or appearance from the surface on which it appears; (esp. in early use) a small raised or indented spot.rare before the mid 18th cent., and before that period perhaps only a contextual use of sense A. 2, referring to a lump or blob of something which happens to be attached to a surface. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > variegation > spot of colour > [noun] > small spot or speckle puncta1398 pointa1400 masclec1400 specklec1440 pecklec1450 sprinkle1481 spreckle1513 frecklea1549 spruttle1553 dot1596 punctum1653 pip1676 spark1686 punctal1694 mail1727 punctule1785 puncta1858 freck1866 guttula1887 1596 E. Coote Eng. Schoole-maister ii. i. 15 You haue a Dot on the nose. 1766 R. B. Cheston Pathol. Inq. & Observ. Surg. ii. 14 The red Dots upon the Surface of the Kidney are so uniform..that we cannot look upon them as so many Extravasations. 1805 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 14 367 In the measles the rash is composed of circular dots partly distinct, partly set in small clusters. 1871 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 27 May 558/2 After eight years, there is no ‘mark’ on any of the teeth; only a simple surface of dentine surrounded by enamel, and a dot of osteodentine in the centre. a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xiii. 308 The under-surface being commonly soft grey or brown, with streaks and dots. 2017 University Wire (Nexis) 11 Aug. He saw the little white dots on the skin of the apple. 4. a. A drawn, printed, or otherwise deliberately created small round mark, usually one indicating, identifying, or representing something. Also: one of a number of such marks forming an image or design.See also polka dot n.For specific senses relating to systems of writing see sense A. 5. ΘΚΠ society > communication > writing > written character > [noun] > written character not a letter markOE noteOE signa1382 dot1659 characteristical1681 mark of suspension1912 1659 H. More Immortality of Soul ii. xi. 229 A kind of Brachygraphie, some small dots here and there standing for the recovering to Memory a series of things that would fill, it may be, many sheets of paper to write them at large. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson iii. ii. 315 A small Islet..which is represented in the general chart..only by a dot. 1766 ‘M. A. Porny’ Elem. Heraldry (1787) 20 Or, which signifies gold, and in colour yellow, is expressed by points, pricks, or dots. 1821 W. M. Craig Lect. Drawing vii. 403 The last mode of employing the engraver's implements which I shall describe to you, is that of working entirely in dots or points. 1894 H. S. Marks Pen & Pencil Sketches I. viii. 133 The eyes of Edwin have a fixed and stony stare, admirably rendered by mere dots. 1914 O. Onions Mushroom Town 68 The Squire could only make dots with his pen on the blotting-paper before him. 1946 Hesperia 15 134 There are red dots on her dress. 2017 Tangerine (New Delhi) (Nexis) 21 July Put a dot next to the priority moves on your to-do list and make sure to tackle them first. b. Music slang (chiefly Jazz in early use). In plural. The notes on sheet music; (hence) written or printed music.Cf. the more specific meanings in musical notation described at sense A. 6. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > [noun] pricksonga1450 pricked song1463 musicc1615 dot1919 1919 Evening Rev. (E. Liverpool, Ohio) 28 Apr. 9/3 (advt.) We play the dots that are on the sheet. 1956 K. Baker in S. Traill Play that Music i. 22 When speaking of jazz, I mean that kind of music that is all spontaneous, fully extemporized, in other words—no ‘dots’. 2003 Oxfordshire Weekly 16 July 36/1 (advt.) Trumpet player needed... No dots at present so much learning by ear. II. Specific and technical uses. 5. In various systems of writing or of dividing text. a. A point placed over, under, or next to a letter or figure to modify its meaning, pronunciation, or value. Chiefly in Semitic systems of writing or notation; cf. point n.¹ 16c. ΘΚΠ society > communication > writing > written character > [noun] > written character not a letter > diacritic > types of prickOE tittlec1384 acute accent1555 windabout1589 cerilla1591 cedilla1599 acute1609 circumflex1609 grave1609 diaeresis1611 dialysis1665 dot1693 short accent, mark1704 long mark1729 síneadh fada1768 macron1851 macrotone1880 tilde1915 umlaut1938 fada1981 ogonek1981 1693 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. I. ii. 53 Those little Horns, Pricks and Dots belonging to the Hebrew Letters. 1751 G. Sharpe Seven Lett. Method learning Hebrew Lang. (ed. 2) i. 4 To express thousands the Rabbins usually place two dots over the units. 1844 W. Upton Physioglyphics 90 פּ represents P, but פ (without the dot) is equivalent to Ph. 1965 Bull. School Oriental & Afr. Stud. 28 533 Al-Jabartī writes without the two diacritical dots under the letter yā. 2004 J. Hoffman In Beginning v. 56 The Masoretes used a dot on the left to indicate the sound /s/. b. A point used in punctuation, as in the full stop (.), colon (:), etc., or as one of a series used to indicate omission or ellipsis. Cf. point n.¹ 16a. ΘΚΠ society > communication > writing > written character > punctuation > [noun] > point or stop distinction1552 stay1596 stop1598 interpunction1617 punctc1620 punctum1652 interpoint1684 interstinctive point1696 dot1699 interpunctuation1717 guard-stops1866 distinctive1874 interpunct1898 punctus elevatus1951 punctus versus1951 punctus1954 1699 W. Mather Young Mans Compan. (ed. 5) 36 A Period, or dot, is a full stop, and is put after a full Sentence. 1877 J. Stormonth Punctuation 11 The Colon consists of round dots, thus (:), placed one above the other. 1940 Mod. Lang. Jrnl. 24 337 The French ellipsis, whose three dots are hardly any longer than an ‘em quad’. 2013 Gold Coast (Austral.) Bull. (Nexis) 13 Feb. 20 Everyone knows you put a dot at the end of a sentence. c. The point at the top of the lower-case letters i and j. Also: a point formerly placed over the letter y when used to represent any of the vowel sounds otherwise represented by i (now historical).In quot. 1887 in figurative context, relating to the provision of detail: see to dot the i's at dot v.¹ Phrases. ΚΠ 1718 tr. B. de La Monnoye in J. Toland Nazarenus (ed. 2) App. ii. 11 The time when Transcribers begun to put a dot or tittle over the letter i. 1794 J. Wolcot Rowland for Oliver in Wks. II. 380 On each superfluous letter vents a sigh, and saves the little dot upon an i. 1887 Ld. Derby in Pall Mall Gaz. 15 Nov. 14/1 He did not care to put the dots on the i's, but he said with conviction that the difficulty which Malthus pointed out seventy years ago..was upon us again. 1973 Mod. Lang. Rev. 68 284 I quote the passage in question as printed in the edition, save for the dot over the y. 2012 F. Vincent in R. Keurajian Baseball Hall of Fame Autographs 2/1 My old friend John Mize never placed a dot over the ‘i’ in his signature. d. Computing. A full stop or point used in a URL, Internet Protocol address, etc., to divide the different components.Frequently used in the representation of (part of) a URL as text. See dotcom n. 1, dot-org n. 1. ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > programming language > [noun] > notation > symbol dot1981 backslash1982 1978 B. W. Kernighan & D. M. Richie C Programming Lang. 120 The structure member operator ‘.’ connects the structure name and the member name.] 1981 S. Sluizer & J. B. Postel Request for Comments (Network Working Group) (Electronic text) No. 780. 21 Another form is four small decimal integers separated by dots and enclosed by brackets, e.g., ‘[123.255.37.321]’, which indicates a 32 bit ARPA Internet Address in four eight bit fields. 2014 D. Gorman Too Much Information (2015) xiv. 117 I imagine there were hordes of people feeling momentarily put out when they found their computers were showing them information about West Virginian school closures and not pictures of bikini-clad actresses..just because they'd gone for a dot-com instead of a dot-co-dot-uk. 6. Music. In musical notation. a. One of a vertical pair of points placed in conjunction with a bar line or (more commonly) double bar, in order to mark the start and end of a passage that is to be repeated. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > notation > [noun] > dot prick1482 dot1740 1740 J. Grassineau tr. S. De Brossard Musical Dict. 197 If there be dots on each side of the bars, they direct to a repetition both of the preceding and following strains. 1854 R. Massie Martin Luther's Spiritual Songs Pref. p. xvi Attention must..be paid to the dots of repetition. 2001 Musical Q. 85 575 There was no unified practice among eighteenth- and nineteenth-century publishers concerning the repeat sign after a slow introduction to a sonata-allegro. While some publications printed the dots, plenty of others did not. b. A point placed after a note or rest to lengthen it by half as much again, or over a note to indicate that it is to be performed staccato. Cf. double dot n. at double adj.¹ and adv. Compounds 1. ΚΠ 1778 G. Bernard tr. A. Bemetzrieder Music made Easy i. iii. 36 Dots are frequently placed after the Notes, which render them half as long again. 1806 J. W. Callcott Musical Gram. iii. 32 When it is necessary to lengthen a Note by half its value, a dot is placed after it. 1914 M. Gibb Chassevant Method Musical Educ. ii. 19 In the ‘First Solfège’ there are no dots used, though there are many examples of tied notes. 2002 Notes 68 497 Although the markings in Beethoven's autographs suggest that he often intended a distinction between dots and strokes, many modern editors standardize the staccato as a dot. †7. Mining. A column of ore running into the rock, esp. one having soft material (e.g. clay) at its centre; = dot-hole n. at Compounds. Obsolete. rare.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries. ΚΠ 1747 W. Hooson Miners Dict. Dots, and Dot-Holes, round holes of Ore, runing into the hard Stone, especially in Pipes, much like those called Blanches. 8. Plastering. Any of several markers (e.g. nails or patches of plaster) fitted to a wall in order to indicate where the ends of the screeds (screed n.¹ 4a) should lie. ΚΠ 1823 P. Nicholson New Pract. Builder 390 Dots, patches of plaster put on to regulate the floating rule in making screeds and bays. 1837 P. Nicholson New & Improved Pract. Builder II. iii. iv. 190 When the dots are sufficiently set, the spaces between them are filled up flush with coarse stuff. 1915 F. R. Walker Building Estimator's Ref. Bk. xii. 247 It is necessary for the plasterer to..place either wood grounds or plaster ‘dots’ on all walls to run his work to. 2018 M. Henry & T. Therrien Essent. Nat. Plasters (e-book ed.) iv. Fill in a horizontal line of plaster between your upper dots, and another between your lower dots. 9. In Morse code: the shorter of the two signals which in various combinations represent alphanumeric characters. See also dash n.¹ 7f. ΘΚΠ society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telegraphy > [noun] > telegraphic message > code > Morse code > signs in dot1838 dash1859 long1867 short1891 dah1942 dit1942 V-sign1959 1838 Ann. Electr., Magnetism, & Chem. 3 146 The alphabetical signals are made up of combinations of dots and of lines of different lengths. 1944 Amer. Mag. Mar. 162/1 A long press on the button for a dash. A short press for a dot. It is plain international code. 2013 Smith Jrnl. Spring 31 Older readers may note that the mark is in fact morse code, composed of dots and dashes spelling out an indecisive ‘um.’ †10. Embroidery. A sewing stitch consisting of small double stitches of even length created by backstitching, typically used to fill in the centre of a design or to trace an outline; = dot stitch n. 1. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > sewn or ornamented textile fabric > [noun] > sewing or work sewn > stitch > other accrue1725 gobble stitch1788 seam-stitch1825 marking stitch1861 dot1882 seam1882 basket-darning1884 basting1885 bridle1885 padding stitch1913 stab-stitch1917 tuck-stitch1926 prick stitch1928 fishbone-stitch1932 pad stitch1964 1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 154/2 Dot, an Embroidery stitch used in all kinds of fancy work, and known as Point de Pois and Point d'Or. 11. The smallest subdivision of an image on a television or other electronic display; a picture element or pixel. Also: a component or element of an electronic display screen which produces such a subdivision of an image (e.g. an area of phosphor on the inside of a cathode ray tube which fluoresces a particular colour). Now somewhat rare. ΚΠ 1937 Discovery Nov. 329/1 This amount of definition is determined by the number of dot elements into which the picture is arbitrarily divided. 1959 K. Henney Radio Engin. Handbk. (ed. 5) xxii. 64 The shadow-mask holes and dots are so positioned that the electron beam from, for example, the green gun can strike only green-emitting dots. 2000 Cutting Edge: Encycl. Adv. Technol. 99/1 Fiber-optic imaging builds up pictures using an array of cables, similar to the way that television pictures are built up from an array of dots. III. Extended and other uses. 12. a. A person or thing that seems extremely small, either in comparison to the surrounding space or as a result of being very far away. Cf. speck n.¹ 1c. ΘΚΠ the world > space > extension in space > reduction in size or extent > [noun] > apparent > that which appears to be reduced in size prick?a1425 speck1656 dot1791 1791 S. Dobson tr. Petrarch View Human Life 178 The whole earth is but a dot in the universe. 1835 T. S. Fay Norman Leslie II. vi. 36 The sunshine was brightly reflected from countless villas, huts, towns, and palaces in the foreground, lifting their stone towers and walls from out the foliage of cyprus and olive, and in the distance faded to dots and specks. 1854 J. Mills Life of Racehorse vii. 42 Our trainer trotted forward, and, breaking into a hand-gallop, soon became a dwindled dot in the distance. 1992 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 13 June 15 The Comores—four dots in the ocean between Madagascar and continental Africa—are tropical islands. 2007 Independent 21 Feb. 31/1 You're far enough through the race to be ready to throw in the towel—and yet the finishing line is still a tiny dot on the horizon. b. Something very small, or very small in comparison with others of its type; spec. (colloquial and regional) a small child. ΘΚΠ the world > people > person > baby or infant > [noun] childOE baban?c1225 fauntekin1377 infant1382 babea1393 fauntelet1393 babyc1400 lakinc1440 mop1440 chrisomer1574 tenderling1587 chrisom1596 childling1648 flosculet1648 bratling1652 lullaby-cheat1665 strangera1674 child (also infant, baby) in armsa1675 hoppet1695 tot1725 bambino1761 weanie1786 tiny1797 dot1800 trudgeon1814 toddle1825 toddles1828 yearnling1829 dab1833 toddler1837 baba1841 arrival1846 teeny-tiny1849 toddlekins1852 mite1853 trot1854 babelet1856 nestler1866 spoon-child1868 bubby1885 chavvy1886 bub1889 kiddy1889 toddleskin1890 newborn1893 kidlet1899 kidling1899 bubba1906 bundle of joy1924 liddly1929 mammet1932 snork1941 kiddywink1957 sproglet1987 1800 S. T. Coleridge tr. F. Schiller Piccolomini i. x. 43 Yield them up that dot, that speck of land. 1859 E. Capern Ballads & Songs (new ed.) 174 My bonny bright-eyed dot. 1901 Mind Oct. 75 The lady's husband was a big gruff man that didn't like pets anyway, and he seemed almost ashamed to own up that that little dot of a thing belonged to him. 1991 St Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 1 Dec. 1 f He was born 50 years ago in Caherciveen, a dot of a town on the southwestern coast of Ireland. 2012 Waikato Times (Hamilton, N.Z.) (Nexis) 16 Nov. 11 A wonderful photo of her standing on her tricycle seat as a little dot aged about 3 or 4. †13. An act of striking a surface with the tip of an object. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1858 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 27 May in French & Ital. Notebks. (1980) iv. 249 He..stumped on behind with a faster or slower dot of his crutch according to our pace. B. prep. Mathematics. Used to represent the point placed between two vector quantities to indicate that they are to be multiplied via the dot product (dot product n. at Compounds). ΚΠ 1901 J. W. Gibbs & E. B. Wilson Vector Anal. ii. 55 This is read A dot B and therefore may often be called the dot product instead of the direct product. 1996 A. V. Durrant Vectors in Physics & Engin. ii. 48 The scalar product is often called the dot product, and in speech we say ‘a dot b’. Phrases P1. a. to a dot: exactly, precisely; to the smallest detail. Cf. to a T at T n. 1c, to a tittle at tittle n. Phrases 2.Perhaps with reference to putting the dot over the letter i: cf. to dot the i's at dot v.¹ Phrases. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > freedom from error, correctness > exactness, accuracy, precision > [adverb] > strictly strait1338 smally1340 at point devicec1390 point-devicec1425 precisely1526 to the point device1542 just1549 rigorously1561 by the square1570 curiously1573 by point device1575 in print1576 to a tittle1597 nicelya1616 to a hair's breadtha1616 point-vice1641 to a nicka1680 to a cow's thumb1681 to a tee1693 narrowly1708 scrupulously1712 to a dot1728 perjinkly1775 to a nicety1795 astringently1866 to a fit1890 1728 H. Fielding Love in Several Masques ii. ix. 25 La. Trap. Are you blind? they are both alike to a Tittle. Sir Pos. To a dot. Her Hand to a dot. 1800 European Mag. & London Rev. Sept. 211/2 Ay, here correct, the angles to a dot. 1881 Congress. Globe 20 Apr. 356/1 That is the question. That is it to a dot. 1924 R. Kipling Debits & Credits (1926) 312 You have it!.. That's him to a dot. 1994 M. S. Joshi Guru A. Dev iii. 68 Guru Arjan fulfills the requirements of the rules to a dot. b. on the dot: exactly on time; punctually. Cf. on the dot of at Phrases 1c.With reference to the dots or points marking numbers on a clock face. ΘΚΠ the world > time > a suitable time or opportunity > punctuality > [adverb] punctually1652 critically1655 sharp1840 on time1854 prompt1869 on the dot1875 dot1894 prepunctually1894 on or to the tick1902 1875 Youth's Compan. 13 May 147/4 You're right on the dot, my boy. 1953 W. R. Burnett Vanity Row vii. 58 She's always been very scrupulous about settling her bill on the dot. 2018 Business Mirror (Philippines) (Nexis) 29 Apr. She arrived on the dot, at half past six, in time for cocktails. c. In prepositional phrases with of (a time), as at the dot of, from the dot of, on the dot of, etc.: at, from, etc., the exact time specified. ΘΚΠ the world > time > a suitable time or opportunity > punctuality > [adverb] punctually1652 critically1655 sharp1840 on time1854 prompt1869 on the dot1875 dot1894 prepunctually1894 on or to the tick1902 1894 Youth's Compan. 21 June 287/1 On the dot of twelve No. 27 came roaring through the cut. 1914 Harper's Monthly Mag. Dec. 216/1 If you are here at the dot of nine you will see a light hydroplane. 1923 H. Crane Let. 21 June (1965) 137 From the dot of five till two in the morning. 1977 J. Lees-Milne Diary 2 Aug. in Through Wood & Dale (2001) 177 Meals are on the dot of nine for breakfast and eight for dinner. You are expected to be assembled promptly. 2009 J. Fluke Plum Pudding Murder (2010) iii. 25 The information was dispensed fast and heavy with no break for questions until the dot of seven twenty-five. P2. the year dot n. (occasionally also year dot) colloquial (originally and chiefly British) a time in the distant past, a very long time ago. ΘΚΠ the world > time > relative time > the past > [noun] > time long past or long ago fern-daysOE yesterdayOE antiquityc1375 ancienty1489 eldc1540 father-age1633 auld lang syne1666 (the) year one1754 ancientry1755 aforetime1803 good (also bad) old days1828 long-ago1831 eld-time1845 the year dot1857 old times1898 1857 H. A. Murray Land of Slaves & Free 47 Our ancestors adopted this system in the year dot, before one was invented. 1873 Ipswich Jrnl. 25 Mar. 1/3 Some of the liveries I think, to use a homely phrase, were made in the year dot. 1928 E. Wallace Again Sanders v. 109 He was constantly rediscovering obvious things, or revivifying theories that had been decently interred in the year dot. 2003 Smut Summer Special 36/1 The old git has been a season ticket holder and has sat in the same seat since the year dot. P3. colloquial and regional (originally and chiefly British). (to go) off one's dot: (to go) out of one's mind; (to go) crazy. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > [adjective] > insanity or madness > affected with woodc725 woodsekc890 giddyc1000 out of (by, from, of) wit or one's witc1000 witlessc1000 brainsickOE amadc1225 lunaticc1290 madc1330 sickc1340 brain-wooda1375 out of one's minda1387 frenetica1398 fonda1400 formada1400 unwisea1400 brainc1400 unwholec1400 alienate?a1425 brainless1434 distract of one's wits1470 madfula1475 furious1475 distract1481 fro oneself1483 beside oneself1490 beside one's patience1490 dementa1500 red-wood?1507 extraught1509 misminded1509 peevish1523 bedlam-ripe1525 straughta1529 fanatic1533 bedlama1535 daft1540 unsounda1547 stark raving (also staring) mad1548 distraughted1572 insane1575 acrazeda1577 past oneself1576 frenzy1577 poll-mad1577 out of one's senses1580 maddeda1586 frenetical1588 distempered1593 distraught1597 crazed1599 diswitted1599 idle-headed1599 lymphatical1603 extract1608 madling1608 distracteda1616 informala1616 far gone1616 crazy1617 March mada1625 non compos mentis1628 brain-crazed1632 demented1632 crack-brained1634 arreptitiousa1641 dementate1640 dementated1650 brain-crackeda1652 insaniated1652 exsensed1654 bedlam-witteda1657 lymphatic1656 mad-like1679 dementative1685 non compos1699 beside one's gravity1716 hyte1720 lymphated1727 out of one's head1733 maddened1735 swivel-eyed1758 wrong1765 brainsickly1770 fatuous1773 derangedc1790 alienated1793 shake-brained1793 crack-headed1796 flighty1802 wowf1802 doitrified1808 phrenesiac1814 bedlamite1815 mad-braineda1822 fey1823 bedlamitish1824 skire1825 beside one's wits1827 as mad as a hatter1829 crazied1842 off one's head1842 bemadded1850 loco1852 off one's nut1858 off his chump1864 unsane1867 meshuga1868 non-sane1868 loony1872 bee-headed1879 off one's onion1881 off one's base1882 (to go) off one's dot1883 locoed1885 screwy1887 off one's rocker1890 balmy or barmy on (or in) the crumpet1891 meshuggener1892 nutty1892 buggy1893 bughouse1894 off one's pannikin1894 ratty1895 off one's trolley1896 batchy1898 twisted1900 batsc1901 batty1903 dippy1903 bugs1904 dingy1904 up the (also a) pole1904 nut1906 nuts1908 nutty as a fruitcake1911 bugged1920 potty1920 cuckoo1923 nutsy1923 puggled1923 blah1924 détraqué1925 doolally1925 off one's rocket1925 puggle1925 mental1927 phooey1927 crackers1928 squirrelly1928 over the edge1929 round the bend1929 lakes1934 ding-a-ling1935 wacky1935 screwball1936 dingbats1937 Asiatic1938 parlatic1941 troppo1941 up the creek1941 screwed-up1943 bonkers1945 psychological1952 out to lunch1955 starkers1956 off (one's) squiff1960 round the twist1960 yampy1963 out of (also off) one's bird1966 out of one's skull1967 whacked out1969 batshit1971 woo-woo1971 nutso1973 out of (one's) gourd1977 wacko1977 off one's meds1986 1883 Funny Folks 14 July 221/1 Though it is scarcely a rational amusement, those who engage in it are not by any means ‘off their “dot”’. 1919 H. Walpole Secret City iii. x. 391 She says he's just goin' off his dot. 2017 @BrendaLalonde7 1 Feb. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) He will be known as ‘The Cheese Stands Alone’ because every country thinks he's off his dot. And they're right. P4. dot, dot, dot: used (esp. in speech and representations of speech) to indicate something such as omission or ellipsis of some words or text, a pause or break in a sentence, etc., which is typically represented in writing by a sequence of three dots; see sense A. 5b. ΚΠ 1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 22 Feb. 5/1 The true letter-reader will never endure to be scanted of the smallest P.S... We are luxuriously eavesdropping while Swift in his night-gown and slippers babbles his ‘little language’ to Stella, and when he abruptly breaks off a dot, dot, dot, we have a sensation of sudden deafness. 1958 N.Y. Times 7 Aug. 23/3 I can't do this to her, dot, dot, dot, now! 2017 C. Wang Takedown lxii. 275 Fawn and Sharma swore they weren't leaving because they were mad or were choosing sides, but, well, dot-dot-dot. P5. to connect (also join) the dots and variants: (chiefly as a children's activity) to draw lines sequentially linking numbered points arranged on a page so as to form a picture; (hence figurative) to integrate discrete elements into a cohesive whole; to make connections between ideas, to draw conclusions.to join the dots is the more common form in British English, especially in the literal use, while to connect the dots is more usual in North America. ΚΠ 1909 Sun (Baltimore) 6 June 19/5 If you will take a pencil and correctly connect the dots by straight lines you will get a drawing. 1915 Charleston (W. Va.) Mail 23 Nov. 9/5 To solve the Great Dot Mystery, join the dots with a pencil line... Begin with dot No. 1 and take them in numerical order. 1974 Harper's Mag. Mar. 39/2 If McCulloch had the vision, then C. V. Wood connected the dots. He is the grand strategist of the ‘new city’ campaign. 2001 New Yorker 16 Apr. 78/2 Connecting sparse dots, Bailey works up a highly plausible account of the master's life and career. 2013 Daily Tel. 6 Feb. 23/4 Massenet is busy joining the dots between venture capitalists and bankers and the country's brightest design talent. P6. from (also since) day dot and variants: from the very beginning; since something first began.Cf. the year dot n., from day one. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > beginning > at the beginning [phrase] > from the beginning from first to last1536 ab origine1537 ab ovoa1586 ab initio1600 from the word go1834 from the jump1848 from the get-go1960 from (also since) day dot1964 1964 Time & Tide 26 Nov. 29/2 This is the kind of morality play which has been dished up since the day dot. 1998 Observer (Nexis) 1 Mar. 26 I was..privileged to have had parents who made sure, from the day dot, that..I would have the education and training to make my own way. 2019 W. Attwood Asperger's Syndrome & Jail xvi. 257 Be assertive from day dot... Be polite and respectful, but draw the line at taking any bullshit. P7. dot-to-dot adj. and n. (a) adj. designating a puzzle with the object of drawing lines sequentially linking numbered points arranged on a page, so as to form a picture; (b) n. a puzzle of this kind.Cf. connect-the-dots adj. 1, join-the-dots adj. 1. ΚΠ 1919 Little Folks Jan. 172 (heading) A dot-to-dot puzzle. 1977 Washington Post 1 May e4/2 Stories and participation activities like dot-to-dots and finding what's wrong with the pictures. 1994 Today's Parent Oct. 63/1 Katie won't settle without doing several dot-to-dot drawings. 2017 Daily Tel. (National ed.) (Nexis) 11 Apr. 19 Other ‘mindfulness aids’ like adult colouring books and dot-to-dot. †P8. Military slang. to put dots on: to bore, weary. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1919 War Slang in Athenæum 8 Aug. 727/2 If a man is boring or tiresome he is said to ‘put dots on one’. Compounds dot ball n. Cricket a delivery from which no runs are scored, recorded in the scorebook with a dot. ΚΠ 1982 Guardian 23 Jan. 25/1 Only 19 dot balls off which he failed to score. 2018 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 17 Jan. (Sport section) The collective mantra is on taking wickets consistently rather than bowling dot balls to deflect pressure on the opposition batsmen. dot blot n. Biochemistry a simplified blotting technique (see blotting n. Additions) for identifying or quantifying nucleic acids and proteins in which samples are applied directly to a paper or membrane as spots; frequently attributive; (also) the distribution pattern of such spots on the paper or membrane to which they have been applied. ΚΠ 1980 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77 5202/1 (heading) Dot blot hybridization. The pretreated RNA or DNA samples..are spotted directly onto dry nitrocellulose paper. 1995 Jrnl. Infectious Dis. 171 1516/1 While many of the DNA samples on the dot blots either clearly did or did not hybridize with a given probe, some gave intermediate levels of hybridization intensity. 2015 @ineehaa 26 Oct. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Oh how i haaaate doing dot blot assays, spending 8 hours on an experiment to get zero results. dot chart n. Statistics any of several types of chart in which dots are used to represent data points or the frequency of a particular category within a data set; spec. (in later use) = dot plot n. (b). ΚΠ 1912 21st Ann. Rep. Ohio State Acad. Sci. 6 258 (caption) Dot chart showing the relation between the mean temperature for March and the yield of winter wheat in Ohio. 1917 Publ. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 15 676 The data may be replotted on a new dot chart. 1984 Jrnl. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 79 545/1 We prefer dot charts..to bar charts. 2014 H. Wainer Med. Illuminations iv. 73 I would like to emphasize the value of replacing the bar chart format with dot charts. dot command n. Computing a command whose name begins with a dot, spec. (a) a command used in a word processor to control the formatting of a document (now rare); (b) (in Unix and Unix-like operating systems) a command used to evaluate all commands in a particular file. ΚΠ 1983 InfoWorld 3 Jan. 10/1 Mnemonics, those annoying one- to three-letter control sequences or dot commands that most microcomputer word processors have, are used here as well. 2005 A. Robbins & N. H. F. Beebe Classic Shell Scripting vii. 172 If you have a number of shell functions that you would like to use in multiple scripts, the right way to do this is to place them in a separate ‘library’ file, and then read them with the dot command. dot-connect v. intransitive to integrate discrete elements into a cohesive whole; to make connections between ideas, to draw conclusions; cf. to connect the dots at Phrases 5. ΚΠ 2003 National Post (Canada) (Nexis) 25 Oct. (Toronto ed.) to1/6 To be exact, she was the author's stepdaughter-in-law. Stay with me as we dot-connect. 2004 Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 20 Aug. (Opinion section) 21 For a report devoted to dissecting the pre-9/11 failure to dot-connect, it oddly avoids connecting its own findings into the strategy to which they logically point. 2017 @independent_i_ 9 Dec. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) It's not that hard to figure out. All you have to do is have an awareness of history and the ability to dot-connect. dot-connecting n. and adj. [after to connect the dots at Phrases 5] (a) n. the action or activity of doing a connect-the-dots puzzle; (usually figurative) the action or fact of making connections between ideas or drawing conclusions; (b) adj. designating a line drawn between dots, as in a connect-the-dots puzzle; (usually figurative) straightforward, formulaic; (also) that makes connections between ideas.Cf. dot-to-dot adj. and n. at Phrases 7, connect-the-dots adj. and n. ΚΠ 1948 Trained Nurse & Hosp. Rev. Mar. 220/2 From the first page to the last it is an absorbing child-world chock full of board games; dot-connecting pictures; funny poems..and lessons in cartooning for the ‘art-minded’. 1962 K. A. Menninger et al. Man. Psychiatric Case Study (ed. 2) 156 This device for daily nursing records requires only four pencil dots per day and four dot-connecting lines drawn once a month! 1992 USA Today (Nexis) 24 Dec. (Final ed.) (Life section) 3 d A dreary dot-connecting flashback script, which reduces people and events to walk-ons. 1999 L. J. Davis Truth to Tell v. 138 The Latin expression for such fallacious dot-connecting is ‘post hoc, ergo propter hoc’. 2017 @pragmatist20152 28 Aug. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) I really do appreciate your sleuthing, dot-connecting threads. dot-dashed adj. designating a curve or line drawn or marked out with a repeated sequence of alternating dots and dashes, usually in order to distinguish it from other, dotted or solid, lines. ΚΠ 1917 T. W. Croft Pract. Electr. xxxvi. 427 The dot-dashed line shows how that portion of the terminal voltage due to the series winding increases as the load increases. 1992 T. M. Holden et al. in M. T. Hutchings & A. D. Krawitz Measurem. of Residual & Appl. Stress using Neutron Diffraction ii. 100 Dashed and dot-dashed curves were computed with the appropriate diffraction elastic constants. 2005 N.Y. Times 15 Feb. (Late ed.) (Science Times section) f3/1 [Origami] pattern is a network of dashed and dot-dashed lines indicating where paper is to be creased. dot etching n. (in photolithography) any of several methods of increasing or reducing the amount of tone or colour in a particular area of a half-tone negative or positive by means of adjusting the sizes of individual dots. ΚΠ 1937 J. S. Mertle Photolithogr. & Offset Printing ix. 138 The halftone positive for dot etching may be made either in the camera (from continuous tone negatives), or it may be made by contact printing from a halftone negative. 2005 P. Masterson Bk. Design & Production 225 Dot etching on negatives increases color; dot etching on positives reduces color. dot file n. (in Unix and Unix-like operating systems) a file or folder whose name begins with a dot, causing the file to be treated as hidden by file-listing and browsing utilities. ΚΠ 1981 Easy Newsgroup Deletion in net.news.b (Usenet newsgroup) 21 Dec. It does three things: 1) removes the subdirectory (and the ‘dot’ file), 2) disallows new entries for that newsgroup in the ngfile, and 3) updates the active file. 2002 M. Joy et al. Introducing UNIX & Linux v. 67 Never delete or edit a dot file unless you know what it should contain, even if it's empty. † dot-hole n. Mining (Obsolete rare) a column of ore running into the rock, esp. one having soft material (e.g. clay) at its centre; = sense A. 7. ΚΠ 1747 W. Hooson Miners Dict. Dots, and Dot-Holes, round holes of Ore, runing into the hard Stone, especially in Pipes, much like those called Blanches. dot map n. a chart or map using dots to show the distribution of something over a geographical region, each dot representing the recorded presence or occurrence of a particular feature or event. ΚΠ 1896 Trans. Epidemiol. Soc. 1895–6 15 30 Yet in plain contradiction to the dot map, the Table makes older houses to have suffered more than newer houses. 1939 Geogr. Jrnl. 93 274 The printing of the dot-map of the population of Australia gives some wrong impressions in detail. 2011 Bryologist 114 271/1 Dot maps are provided for the West Indian distribution of each species. dot pitch n. (in photolithography, printing, electronic display, etc.) a measure of the density of dots used in forming an image, and hence the sharpness of that image; esp. (in later use) the smallest distance in an electronic display between two subpixels (subpixel adj. and n. (b) at sub- prefix 3d(b)) of the same colour.In printing dot pitch is typically expressed as the number of dots per square inch. ΚΠ 1963 U.S. Patent 3,109,239 3 In a system wherein the dot pitch is 150 to the inch and the red screen has the dots disposed at 45°, the back screen at 75°, the blue screen at 105°, and the yellow screen at 90°, the swinging of the arm..from one position to the other over a particular screen in question will enable the user to quickly identity the exact angle. 1975 IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 30 505/2 The color matrix LCD with 56 × 56 dots and the dot pitch of 300 μm was made as a trial. 2008 Maximum PC Dec. 103/1 Text appears slightly more coarse with a bigger dot pitch. dot plant n. a plant used in garden design to stand out in an area of another type of plant, having a different colour, height, etc., to those which surround it. ΚΠ 1875 Garden 31 July 81/2 The singular flat table-like character of its growth rendering it peculiarly useful as a ‘dot’ plant on a bed of Sedums or other carpet plants. 1950 Irish Times 18 May 6/9 Geraniums are somewhat expensive, but they may be eked out by using them as dot plants in beds carpeted with white alyssum. 2017 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 3 June A simple design needs..dot plants that stand proud to make a focal point. dot plot n. Statistics any of several types of chart in which dots are used to represent data points or the frequency of a particular category within a data set; esp.: (a) a diagram in which different variables are plotted along each axis and data is represented by dots, the position of each dot being determined by the values of those variables for the data point associated with it; = scatter plot n. at scatter n. Compounds (now somewhat rare); (b) a chart in which each quantity or frequency is indicated by the position of a single dot relative to the horizontal axis; (c) a chart in which quantities or frequencies are represented by columns of equally spaced dots. ΚΠ 1959 H. M. Brody Photoproduction Positive K Mesons in Hydrogen (Ph.D thesis, Calif. Inst. Technol.) 60 (caption) Pulse height correlation (dot plot). 1993 Jrnl. Computational & Graphical Statistics 5 154 In this account we used dot plots, scatterplots, curve plots, and wireframes. 2003 D. H. Stamatis Six Sigma & Beyond IV. iii. 58 Dot plots are very useful if you want to compare two or more sets of data for location and spread. dot point n. now chiefly Australian each of a series of items in a written or printed list, introduced by a round dot (also in extended use); (also) the round dot used to mark such an item; = bullet point n. at bullet n.¹ Additions. ΚΠ 1978 Chicago-Midway Low-fare Route Proceeding: Final Environmental Impact Statem. (U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board) 5 The last three dot points are examples of FAA coordinated implementation procedures. 1995 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 22 July 20 In the office, Howard talks through issues, thinking in dot points, rather than absorbing wads of briefing notes. 1998 Re: WWW Browser for C64? in comp.sys.cbm (Usenet newsgroup) 11 Dec. Little GIFs for things like dot points and arrows, which people always seem to forget ALT tags for. 2008 P. F. Downton Ecopolis (2009) vii. 247 The text..described..how the proposed development would address each dot point in the Council's demanding brief. dot product n. the sum of the products of corresponding coordinates of two real (real adj.² 5) vectors, or of the products of the coordinates of the second of two complex (complex adj. 2d) vectors and the complex conjugates of the corresponding coordinates of the first.The dot product is typically represented by a dot placed between the two vectors. ΚΠ 1901 J. W. Gibbs & E. B. Wilson Vector Anal. ii. 55 The direct product is denoted by writing the two vectors with a dot between them as A·B. This is read A dot B and therefore may often be called the dot product instead of the direct product. 1933 H. B. Phillips Vector Anal. x. 217 A linear equation satisfied by dyads will remain valid if each dyad is replaced by the dot or cross product of its two vectors. 2011 P. M. Higgins Numbers: Very Short Introd. viii. 118 Each entry in the products matrix is formed by taking the dot product of a row of the first matrix with a column of the second. dot punch n. a tool similar to a centre punch (centre punch n. at centre n.¹ and adj. Compounds 3) but typically thinner, lighter, and having a sharper tip, used for marking the centre of a hole that is to be drilled, or (more generally) for making an indentation in the surface of an object. ΚΠ 1862 Internat. Exhib.: Juror's Rep. xiii. 71/1 The paper is thus drawn forward one, two, or three times the length of the dot punch. 1938 Proc. Royal Irish Acad. 1937–8 C. 44 188 Impressions of ball or dot punches may be found on many works. 2002 D. Salmon & P. Powdrill Mech. Engin. vii. 185 Dot punches are also used to punch dimples for marking out lengths with dividers. dot-sequential adj. now historical and rare designating a system of colour television in which dots (sense A. 11) of the three primary colours are formed in succession by multiple cathode ray tubes and combined into a single image.Introduced in 1949, the dot-sequential system saw only limited success and was soon superseded by systems employing shadow masks or aperture grilles. ΚΠ 1949 Communications Oct. 5/1 The eighth system recently announced is the dot-sequential approach with 15 color pictures and 60 fields, with a dot and line interlace. 1951 Britannica Bk. of Year 617/2 A dot-sequential system..in which the colour is changed for each picture element or dot. dot wheel n. now rare a toothed wheel mounted in a handle, which when rolled over a surface produces a dotted line, by scoring, inking, impressing, etc., the surface. ΚΠ 1884 St. Nicholas May 572/1 You may finish by going over the outline with a dot-wheel. 1961 Technol. & Culture 2 47 Early duplicates were made by..tracing over (like carbon paper) with scriber or dot wheel. Derivatives dot-like adj. ΚΠ 1813 J. E. Smith Eng. Bot. XXXV. 2472 Receptacles scattered, minute, dot-like, solid, black. 1922 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 30 Dec. 1261/1 The arrangement of dots is really a projection on a vertical plane of two dot-like objects at different distances from the place of observation. 2014 T. Travis & S. Brown Pocketguide Eastern Wetlands v. 148 Bark is brown or gray with raised, dot-like growths. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2022). dotn.² Brit. /dɒt/, U.S. /dɑt/ Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French dot. Etymology: < French dot (see dote n.²). Compare earlier dote n.² Now historical. A woman's dowry, esp. one of which only the interest or annual income is at her husband's disposal. Cf. dote n.² 1. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > wedding or nuptials > gifts and payments > [noun] > dowry moryeveOE marriagea1325 dowing1382 dowerc1386 dowrya1400 marriage money1454 marriage good1478 tocher1496 dote1509 jointurea1513 portion1513 endowry1523 tocher-good1538 dowagea1552 marriage dowrya1616 wedding-dowera1616 marriage portion1616 portion money1625 fortune1702 dot1822 1822 F.-X. Martin Louisiana Term Rep. 9 486 Evidence of the payment of her dot, to her husband, was produced. 1870 H. Smart Race for Wife ii. 30 There would, perhaps, be some little difficulty about the dot. 1924 N.Y. Times 8 Jan. 1/3 Mme. Kemal is said to have brought her husband a dot of 1,000,000 Turkish pounds. 2008 Irish Times (Nexis) 31 May (Weekend section) 10 Simone de Beauvoir..was of good family, but with no dot, or dowry. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022). dotv.¹ Brit. /dɒt/, U.S. /dɑt/ Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: dot n.¹ Etymology: < dot n.¹ Compare earlier point v.¹With sense 6 compare earlier dot and carry one n., dot and go one adj. 1. a. transitive. To use a dot or point to modify the meaning, pronunciation, or value of (a letter), or the length of (a musical note). Cf. dot n.¹ 5a, dot n.¹ 6. ΚΠ 1684 N. S. tr. R. Simon Crit. Enq. Editions Bible vi. 39 The similitude between the Letters Mem and Beth, especially in some Manuscripts, where the Letters are dotted at the top. 1813 J. M. Good et al. Pantologia at Music Compound triple time is formed by dividing the measures of simple triple into nine parts, and by dotting the measure note of the original time. 1900 Grove's Dict. Music II. 221 Notes dashed, dotted, or emphasized..are Martellées or Martellate in execution. 2014 R. Baalbaki Arabic Lexicogr. Trad. i. 1 It is now almost certain..that dotting letters cannot be attributed to Naṣr b. ۦᾹṣim. b. transitive. To put a dot (dot n.¹ 5c) over (the letter i, j, or (formerly) y). Frequently in passive. See also to dot the i's (and cross the t's) at Phrases. ΚΠ 1804 J. Ingram Inaug. Lect. Utility Anglo-Saxon Lit. App. III. 51 The Saxons dotted the ẏ instead of the i. 1865 Cornhill Mag. Aug. 254 None of the i's are dotted, the dot being first used towards the end of the fourteenth century. 1932 Jrnl. Educ. Res. 26 256 (table) Difficulty dotting ‘i’. 2006 G. Sharma Teach yourself Graphol. xix. 121 Small t's crossed with precise stroke and small i's and j's dotted with even-pressured, heavy dots. 2. a. transitive. To draw (a line) or trace out (a shape or figure) using dots; (also) to fill in (a shape or figure) with dots. More usually to dot in at Phrasal verbs, to dot out at Phrasal verbs. Cf. dotted line n. 1. ΚΠ 1723 E. Stone tr. N. Bion Constr. & Principal Uses Math. Instruments 2 They [sc. Lines] are dotted, which is done with a Dotting-Wheel. 1851 Appleton's Mechanic's Mag. 1 May 371/2 In dotting the outline, or cutting shallow works with large tools, the stone may be held quite horizontal. 1955 Amer. Jrnl. Archaeol. 59 57/1 This was previously indicated by shading in a drawing, or by dotting the entire outline of the letter in majuscule text. 2013 @48v 26 Nov. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Dotting a line by hand in AutoCAD. There has to be a better way. b. transitive. To mark (something or someone) with a dot or dots; to place a dot or dots on the surface of (an object). Also intransitive. ΚΠ 1734 Pleasant Compan. iii. 34 He..dotted every one upon the Forehead with one, two or three Dots. 1852 H. Alford Let. Sept. in Life, Jrnls. & Lett. (1873) vi. 212 The choice geraniums are where I have dotted my plan. 1910 Amer. Photogr. 4 470 Practice dotting and stippling as in illustration (6). 1978 Jrnl. Infectious Dis. 138 737/2 Eight wells were made on each slide by dotting the slide with tiny drops of glycerol. 2018 China Daily (Nexis) 4 Aug. Dipping a brush in red paint and dotting the bulging eyes of the carved dragon heads. 3. a. transitive. Of a number of similar things: to occur at intervals throughout (an area) or over (a surface). ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > variegation > spot of colour > spot [verb (transitive)] > speckle powderc1380 besprenga1425 prick1530 sprinkle1551 peckle1570 speckle1570 speck1580 pepper?1605 pounce1610 freckle1613 freck1621 stipplea1774 punctuate1777 dot1784 puncture1848 bespeckle1860 prickle1888 tick1910 1784 J. Byng Diary 19 July in Torrington Diaries (1934) I. 179 All the approaching ground is pitifully dotted with mean plantations of fir and larch. 1858 Harper's Mag. Mar. 495/1 Silvery catkins dot the willows. 1892 Harper's Mag. Sept. 590/1 Everywhere dotting the sand..are rough misshapen tracks of mud-terrapins. 1919 Outing Mar. 301 (caption) The prong-horn antelope once dotted the western plains. 2015 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 28 May c4/4 The camera lingers on bare floors dotted with open suitcases. b. transitive. figurative and in figurative contexts. To be scattered throughout; to occur sporadically within or during. ΚΠ 1842 J. F. Cooper Two Admirals III. x. 280 The fate of the Blenheim was one of those impressive blanks that dot the pages of nautical history. 1853 J. Cumming Foreshadows ix. 242 Her nation's history was dotted with judgements from the Lord. 1933 Social Forces 12 252/2 His book is dotted with references to African correspondences. 1979 N. R. Shapiro in tr. G. Feydeau Tooth & Consequences Introd. 4 The jovial one-acters written at the beginning of his career and those that dotted it sporadically throughout were a far cry from the late tableaux of marital bedlam and breakup. 2018 South Bend (Indiana) Tribune (Nexis) 28 Jan. a1 His past was dotted with jail stays. 4. transitive. With adverb, adverbial phrase, or prepositional phrase as complement. To disperse or scatter (a number of similar things) at intervals throughout an area or over a surface. Usually in passive. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being scattered or dispersed > scatter [verb (transitive)] > scatter here and there at intervals > place at intervals over a surface disseminate1682 dot1786 stud1823 the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being scattered or dispersed > scatter [verb (transitive)] > scatter here and there at intervals > be placed at intervals over stud1652 dot1786 1786 W. Gilpin Observ. Picturesque Beauty II. xxxi. 259 Sheep are often ornamental, when dotted about the sides of distant hills. 1839 Times 11 Mar. 5/5 The pit was well filled by the time the opera had commenced, and the empty boxes were the mere exceptions, dotted here and there. 1894 Jrnl. Hort., Cottage Gardener & Home Farmer 5 Apr. 256/2 In order to produce a fine effect it is important not to dot the bulbs about indiscriminately, but rather to plant large masses of each variety. 2016 West Austral. (Perth) (Nexis) 13 Aug. (Travel section) 12 Sun lounges and day beds are dotted among the palm trees. 5. transitive. To note down briefly and hastily; to jot. Chiefly with down; cf. to jot down at jot v.² ΘΚΠ society > communication > writing > manner of writing > [verb (transitive)] > write down hastily slap1672 to run off1680 dash1726 jot1735 dash off, out1786 dot1797 splash1897 1797 J. Meikle Metaphysical Maxims 128 A number of arithmeticians employed for an age, in dotting down figures in one straight line. 1845 R. Ford Hand-bk. Travellers in Spain I. i. 58 One word dotted down on the spot is worth a cart-load of recollections. 1894 London Reader 31 Mar. 572/1 Mr. Reeves swiftly dotted a few words down on a piece of paper. 1937 Musical Times 78 596/2 The composer has now a few days until the film is finally cut, during which he can dot down tentative ideas. 2018 www.fanfiction.net 7 Aug. (O.E.D. Archive) She dotted a few words onto the chart. †6. intransitive. To move with a jerky or uneven gait; to limp (with a particular leg). Also with off. Cf. dot and carry one n., adj., and adv., dot and go one adj., n., and adv. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > walk, tread, or step [verb (intransitive)] > limp haltc825 cripplec1220 hip1440 limp1570 linch1570 claudicate1623 hop1700 crimple1754 hilch1786 crutch1828 hamble1828 dot1843 peg-leg1969 1843 Veterinarian Apr. 230 He ‘dotted’ with the near hind leg. 1870 Shamrock (Dublin) 19 Nov. 120/2 He dotted about the dock in an absolute frenzy of rage and disappointment. 1924 Chambers's Jrnl. 14 124/2 The ungrateful little brute..dotted off, wagging his skinny tail. 7. transitive. slang (originally and chiefly British). To hit, punch (a person); esp. in to dot (a person) one. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > impact > striking > strike [verb (transitive)] > specific animate object drepeOE smitec1200 buffet?c1225 strike1377 rapa1400 seta1400 frontc1400 ballc1450 throw1488 to bear (a person) a blow1530 fetch1556 douse1559 knetcha1564 slat1577 to hit any one a blow1597 wherret1599 alapate1609 shock1614 baske1642 measure1652 plump1785 jow1802 nobble1841 scuff1841 clump1864 bust1873 plonk1874 to sock it to1877 dot1881 biff1888 dong1889 slosh1890 to soak it to1892 to cop (a person) one1898 poke1906 to hang one on1908 bop1931 clonk1949 1881 Newcastle Courant 2 Sept. 6/5 Did you hear he dotted the Raven a while ago? 1951 J. B. Priestley Festival at Farbridge 348 Any monkey tricks an' I'll dot yer one. 2002 Symbolic Interaction 25 521 A forty-year-old drunk dots me one. Phrases to dot the i's (and cross the t's) and variants: to pay attention to every detail, esp. when finishing off a task or undertaking; to be accurate and precise. Cf. to cross the t's at T n. 1b. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > the quality of being specific > become specific [verb (intransitive)] > come to particulars > go into detail particulate1596 particularize1601 intrinsicate1603 specialize1613 to go into ——1697 to dot the i's (and cross the t's)1820 1820 Daily National Intelligencer (Washington) 1 Feb. Pray, sir, what is the object of referring a bill to a committee—merely to dot the i's and cross the t's? 1921 Sat. Evening Post 8 Jan. 142/2 Don't worry over what I think about dotting i's—go ahead with the murder. 1979 Cincinnati Mag. May 79/1 No lawyers, no dotting the i's or crossing the t's, just a simple handshake. 2002 New Republic 18 Nov. 16/1 We've crossed every t and dotted every i. We've left nothing to chance. Phrasal verbs to dot in transitive. To draw (a line) or trace out (a shape or figure) using dots; (also and in earliest use) to fill in (a shape or figure) with dots. Cf. to dot out at Phrasal verbs. ΚΠ 1811 J. Parkins Young Man's Best Compan. 524 To imagine that the picture was entirely dotted in. 1892 Proc. Royal Geogr. Soc. 14 300 Where I have not been able to make such observations I have merely dotted in their probable courses. 1962 Pop. Mech. Dec. 134 When the pattern lines are all dotted-in, draw the curved lines. 2005 South Bend (Indiana) Tribune (Nexis) 17 Nov. e1 He dotted in, with a gel pen, the shape of their faces. to dot down transitive and intransitive. Rugby. To ground (the ball) on or behind the opposing team's try line and thereby score a try. Cf. to touch down 1a at touch v. Phrasal verbs.Occasionally with the try as object, as in quot. 1956. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > play rugby football [verb (intransitive)] > score to run in1858 to dot down1956 society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > play rugby football [verb (transitive)] > score pot1856 secure1866 convert1896 goal1900 majorize1904 to dot down1956 1956 R. Sweet Kiwis Conquer x. 104 Leaving a trail of defenders behind him, Jaap Bekker dots down the first of his two tries. 1959 Observer 13 Sept. 32/6 A brisk little Maori centre-three-quarter..fly-kicked the ball ahead and dotted down for a try. 1976 Times 21 Feb. 17/6 King dotted the ball down between the posts. Akenhead converted. 2007 Rugby World Mar. 122 Few deemed France model champs last year but they dotted down 18 times, so who are we to quibble? to dot off transitive. To list (items) mentally or verbally one by one, esp. while counting on the fingers; (also) to deal with one by one; to tick off. ΚΠ 1858 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Nov. 276/1 He dotted off on his fingers the amount of poultry. 1904 L. T. Meade Love Triumphant i. ii She recounted a little list of famous women,..dotting them off on her slender fingers. 2015 Daily Mirror (Nexis) 23 Jan. (Beat section) 5 Sunil's gig schedule has increased considerably around Europe,..dotting off many other countries along the way. to dot out transitive. To draw (a line) or trace out (a shape or figure) using dots; (also) to fill in (a shape or figure) with dots. Cf. to dot in at Phrasal verbs. ΚΠ 1745 R. Pococke Descr. East II. ii. ii. 43 The plan of the lower part is dotted out. 1820 London Mag. Apr. 404 He who can cut the clearest stroke on a copper-plate, or dot out the softest shadow..is the best engraver. 1949 PMLA 64 1206 Dotting out the blank space left at the end of the line. 2018 Stud. Amer. Indian Lit. 30 2 Faint trails dotted out on hundred-year-old maps. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022). † dotv.² Origin: Either (i) formed within English, by conversion. Or (ii) a borrowing from French. Etymons: dot n.²; French doter. Etymology: Either < dot n.², or < French doter (see dote v.³), after dot n.² Compare earlier dote v.³ Obsolete. rare. transitive. To provide (a bride) with a dowry. Cf. dot n.² ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > wedding or nuptials > gifts and payments > [verb (transitive)] > give as dowry > give dowry to endow1528–30 dote1560 tochera1578 dowry1588 endower1606 dowera1616 indotate1647 portion1836 fortune1838 dot1887 1887 E. Gerard in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. May 638/2 The empress herself was in the habit of doting [1888 ed. undertook to dot] every young gipsy girl who married a person of another race. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019). < n.¹prep.OEn.²1822v.¹1684v.²1887
随便看	fen-paring fen-phen fen-pole fen-reeve fen-river fen-rue fen-runners fen-rush fen-shake fen-skate fen-skater fen-skating fen-slodger fen-soil fen-sucked fen-thrush fenaffecter fenage fenberry fenboat fenboot fenborn fenbred fenbrede fencanopy

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