"pocket dial" meaning in English

See pocket dial in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-pocket dial.ogg [Australia] Forms: pocket dials [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} pocket dial (plural pocket dials)
  1. (idiomatic, informal) A situation in which one's cellphone makes a call from one's pocket when its buttons are inadvertently pressed. Tags: idiomatic, informal Categories (topical): Telephony Synonyms (accidental call): butt dial
    Sense id: en-pocket_dial-en-noun-en:accidental_call Disambiguation of Telephony: 53 3 45 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 45 41 14 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 38 29 34 Disambiguation of 'accidental call': 95 5
  2. (obsolete) A portable sundial of small size. Tags: obsolete
    Sense id: en-pocket_dial-en-noun-en:sundial Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 45 41 14 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 31 40 28 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 38 29 34
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: pocket-dial

Verb

Audio: En-au-pocket dial.ogg [Australia] Forms: pocket dials [present, singular, third-person], pocket dialing [US, participle, present], pocket dialling [Commonwealth, participle, present], pocket dialed [US, participle, past], pocket dialed [US, past], pocket dialled [Commonwealth, participle, past], pocket dialled [Commonwealth, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|past2=++|past2_qual=Commonwealth|past_qual=US|pres_ptc2=++|pres_ptc2_qual=Commonwealth|pres_ptc_qual=US}} pocket dial (third-person singular simple present pocket dials, present participle (US) pocket dialing or (Commonwealth) pocket dialling, simple past and past participle (US) pocket dialed or (Commonwealth) pocket dialled)
  1. (idiomatic, informal) To accidentally make a call this way. Tags: idiomatic, informal Categories (topical): Telephony Synonyms: butt dial Translations (an act of accidentally calling): fickringning (Swedish) Translations (to accidentally call): broekzakbellen (Dutch), fickringa (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-pocket_dial-en-verb-vacEtdDa Disambiguation of Telephony: 53 3 45 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 45 41 14 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 38 29 34
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: pocket-dial

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for pocket dial meaning in English (7.1kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pocket dials",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "pocket dial (plural pocket dials)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "45 41 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "38 29 34",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "53 3 45",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Telephony",
          "orig": "en:Telephony",
          "parents": [
            "Electronics",
            "Telecommunications",
            "Technology",
            "Communication",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2013, Jess McCann, Was It Something I Said?: The Answer To All Your Dating Dilemmas, Skirt!, pages 7–8",
          "text": "But consider this first: How do you know that he really meant to call you and this wasn't just an accidental pocket dial?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Elle Fowler, Blair Fowler, Where Beauty Lies, St. Martin's Press, published 2013, page 60",
          "text": "It started off sounding like a pocket dial with incoherent noise and shouting […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Abbi Glines, Hold On Tight, Simon Pulse, pages 95–96",
          "text": "My phone started ringing. I reached over and grabbed it, surprised to see Dewayne's name on the screen. Why would he be calling me at midnight on a Saturday?\n\"Hello?\" I said, almost expecting this to be a pocket dial.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A situation in which one's cellphone makes a call from one's pocket when its buttons are inadvertently pressed."
      ],
      "id": "en-pocket_dial-en-noun-en:accidental_call",
      "links": [
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
          "cellphone",
          "cellphone"
        ],
        [
          "call",
          "call"
        ],
        [
          "pocket",
          "pocket"
        ],
        [
          "inadvertently",
          "inadvertently"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) A situation in which one's cellphone makes a call from one's pocket when its buttons are inadvertently pressed."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:accidental call"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "sense": "accidental call",
          "word": "butt dial"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "45 41 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 40 28",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "38 29 34",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A portable sundial of small size."
      ],
      "id": "en-pocket_dial-en-noun-en:sundial",
      "links": [
        [
          "sundial",
          "sundial"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A portable sundial of small size."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:sundial"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-pocket dial.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f3/En-au-pocket_dial.ogg/En-au-pocket_dial.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/En-au-pocket_dial.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "46 45 9",
      "word": "pocket-dial"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Pocket dialing"
  ],
  "word": "pocket dial"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pocket dials",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pocket dialing",
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pocket dialling",
      "tags": [
        "Commonwealth",
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pocket dialed",
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pocket dialed",
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pocket dialled",
      "tags": [
        "Commonwealth",
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pocket dialled",
      "tags": [
        "Commonwealth",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "past2": "++",
        "past2_qual": "Commonwealth",
        "past_qual": "US",
        "pres_ptc2": "++",
        "pres_ptc2_qual": "Commonwealth",
        "pres_ptc_qual": "US"
      },
      "expansion": "pocket dial (third-person singular simple present pocket dials, present participle (US) pocket dialing or (Commonwealth) pocket dialling, simple past and past participle (US) pocket dialed or (Commonwealth) pocket dialled)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "45 41 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "38 29 34",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
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            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "53 3 45",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Telephony",
          "orig": "en:Telephony",
          "parents": [
            "Electronics",
            "Telecommunications",
            "Technology",
            "Communication",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012, Dudley Rutherford, God Has an App for That: Discover God's Solutions for the Major Issues of Life, Gospel Light, published 2012, page 115",
          "text": "I answered and quickly realized that the person had “pocket dialed” me— his phone had called mine unintentionally.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Alecia Whitaker, The Road to You, Poppy, published 2015",
          "text": "I laugh despite myself, wiping my face with my sleeve. \"Dan, you called me.\"\n\"Oh, Bird! Is that you?\" he says, laughing. \"I must have pocket dialed you.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Helen Kara, Creative Research Methods in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide, Policy Press, published 2015, page 32",
          "text": "The navigational information his smartphone provided was not always accurate, and at times he would accidentally 'pocket dial' participants at inappropriate hours.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To accidentally make a call this way."
      ],
      "id": "en-pocket_dial-en-verb-vacEtdDa",
      "links": [
        [
          "accidentally",
          "accidentally"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) To accidentally make a call this way."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "butt dial"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "to accidentally call",
          "word": "broekzakbellen"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to accidentally call",
          "word": "fickringa"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "an act of accidentally calling",
          "word": "fickringning"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-pocket dial.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f3/En-au-pocket_dial.ogg/En-au-pocket_dial.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/En-au-pocket_dial.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "46 45 9",
      "word": "pocket-dial"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Pocket dialing"
  ],
  "word": "pocket dial"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English verbs",
    "en:Telephony"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pocket dials",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "pocket dial (plural pocket dials)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2013, Jess McCann, Was It Something I Said?: The Answer To All Your Dating Dilemmas, Skirt!, pages 7–8",
          "text": "But consider this first: How do you know that he really meant to call you and this wasn't just an accidental pocket dial?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Elle Fowler, Blair Fowler, Where Beauty Lies, St. Martin's Press, published 2013, page 60",
          "text": "It started off sounding like a pocket dial with incoherent noise and shouting […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Abbi Glines, Hold On Tight, Simon Pulse, pages 95–96",
          "text": "My phone started ringing. I reached over and grabbed it, surprised to see Dewayne's name on the screen. Why would he be calling me at midnight on a Saturday?\n\"Hello?\" I said, almost expecting this to be a pocket dial.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A situation in which one's cellphone makes a call from one's pocket when its buttons are inadvertently pressed."
      ],
      "links": [
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        [
          "cellphone",
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        [
          "pocket",
          "pocket"
        ],
        [
          "inadvertently",
          "inadvertently"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) A situation in which one's cellphone makes a call from one's pocket when its buttons are inadvertently pressed."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:accidental call"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A portable sundial of small size."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sundial",
          "sundial"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A portable sundial of small size."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:sundial"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-pocket dial.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f3/En-au-pocket_dial.ogg/En-au-pocket_dial.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/En-au-pocket_dial.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "accidental call",
      "word": "butt dial"
    },
    {
      "word": "pocket-dial"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Pocket dialing"
  ],
  "word": "pocket dial"
}

{
  "categories": [
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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English verbs",
    "en:Telephony"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pocket dials",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pocket dialing",
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pocket dialling",
      "tags": [
        "Commonwealth",
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pocket dialed",
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pocket dialed",
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pocket dialled",
      "tags": [
        "Commonwealth",
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pocket dialled",
      "tags": [
        "Commonwealth",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "past2": "++",
        "past2_qual": "Commonwealth",
        "past_qual": "US",
        "pres_ptc2": "++",
        "pres_ptc2_qual": "Commonwealth",
        "pres_ptc_qual": "US"
      },
      "expansion": "pocket dial (third-person singular simple present pocket dials, present participle (US) pocket dialing or (Commonwealth) pocket dialling, simple past and past participle (US) pocket dialed or (Commonwealth) pocket dialled)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
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        {
          "ref": "2012, Dudley Rutherford, God Has an App for That: Discover God's Solutions for the Major Issues of Life, Gospel Light, published 2012, page 115",
          "text": "I answered and quickly realized that the person had “pocket dialed” me— his phone had called mine unintentionally.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Alecia Whitaker, The Road to You, Poppy, published 2015",
          "text": "I laugh despite myself, wiping my face with my sleeve. \"Dan, you called me.\"\n\"Oh, Bird! Is that you?\" he says, laughing. \"I must have pocket dialed you.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Helen Kara, Creative Research Methods in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide, Policy Press, published 2015, page 32",
          "text": "The navigational information his smartphone provided was not always accurate, and at times he would accidentally 'pocket dial' participants at inappropriate hours.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To accidentally make a call this way."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "accidentally",
          "accidentally"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) To accidentally make a call this way."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-pocket dial.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f3/En-au-pocket_dial.ogg/En-au-pocket_dial.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/En-au-pocket_dial.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "butt dial"
    },
    {
      "word": "pocket-dial"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "to accidentally call",
      "word": "broekzakbellen"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to accidentally call",
      "word": "fickringa"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "an act of accidentally calling",
      "word": "fickringning"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Pocket dialing"
  ],
  "word": "pocket dial"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.