dowel

English

Plastic and metal dowels

Alternative forms

• doul (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English dowle, dule, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old French doelle (“the hollow part of a tool where the handle is”), from Frankish *duli (“hollow tube, pipe”), from Proto-Germanic *dulją (“pipe”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰel- (“curvature, hollow”). If so, then cognate with French douelle, douille.

Alternatively from Middle Low German dövel (“peg, plug”), from Old Saxon *dubil, from Proto-Germanic *dubilaz. If so, then cognate with Dutch deuvel (“wooden peg”), German Dübel (“dowel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊəl

Noun

dowel (plural dowels)

1. A pin, or block, of wood or metal, fitting into holes in the abutting portions of two pieces, and being partly in one piece and partly in the other, to keep them in their proper relative position.
2. A wooden rod, as one to make short pins from.
   • 2006, Steven Caney, Lauren House, Steven Caney's Ultimate Building Book, page 264:

     This twenty-four-piece starter set uses twelve thirty-six-inch-long dowels (or nine forty-eight-inch dowels) cut to these rod lengths. Lay out the cuts so you use the entire length of each dowel without any leftover scraps.

3. (construction) A piece of wood or similar material fitted into a surface not suitable for fastening so that other pieces may be fastened to it.

Coordinate terms

• (pin or block of wood or metal): spline, biscuit, tenon
• (construction): anchor, screw anchor (US); wall plug (UK).

Derived terms

• cross dowel
• dowel joint
• dowel pin

Translations

a pin fitting into holes, partly in one piece and partly in the other to keep them in their position

• Armenian: խցաբութակ (xcʻabutʻak), դյուբել (hy) (dyubel)
• Bulgarian: шпилка (bg) (špilka), щифт (bg) (štift)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 銷釘／销钉 (zh) (xiāodìng)

• Dutch: deuvel (nl) m
• Estonian: tüübel, punn
• Finnish: tappi (fi), seinätulppa, tulppa (fi)
• French: cheville (fr) f, goujon (fr) m
• German: Dübel (de) m, Holzdübel (de) m, Feder (de) f, Verbinder m
• Hungarian: pecek (hu)
• Ingrian: naakeli
• Italian: tassello (it) m, piolo (it) m
• Japanese: ダボ (dabo)
• Portuguese: cavilha (pt) f
• Russian: дю́бель (ru) m (djúbelʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: tìpl (sh) m, tìpla f
• Spanish: clavija (es) f, taco (es) m, espiga (es) f, tarugo (es) m, torillo m
• Swedish: dymling (sv) c
• Tagalog: klabiha
• Turkish: dübel (tr), pim (tr)
• Welsh: hoelbren m or f

piece of wood fitted into a surface

• Bulgarian: клин (bg) m (klin)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 木钉 (zh) (mù-dīng)

• Dutch: plug (nl)
• French: cheville (fr) f
• German: Dübel (de) m, Feder (de) f, Holzdübel (de) m
• Spanish: clavija lignaria f, torillo lignario m, espiga (es) f, almilla (es) f, tarugo (es) m, bitoque m
• Welsh: hoelbren m or f

something fitted into a surface to let other pieces be fastened to it — see also wall plug

• Bulgarian: дюбел (bg) m (djubel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 膨脹螺絲／膨胀螺丝, 麻根塞, 膠塞／胶塞 (jiāosài)

• German: Dübel (de) m, Wanddübel m, Kunststoffdübel (de) m, Metalldübel f
• Portuguese: bucha (pt) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} pinni m, ^{(please verify)} láspinni, ^{(please verify)} blindingur m, ^{(please verify)} blindnagli m, ^{(please verify)} blindingi m, (wood dowel) ^{(please verify)} tréblindingi m, (wooden dowel) ^{(please verify)} trétappi m

Verb

dowel (third-person singular simple present dowels, present participle dowelling or doweling, simple past and past participle dowelled or doweled)

1. (transitive) To fasten together with dowels.
   • 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 79:

     The wheels were solid, two half discs dowelled against the hub, and the chariots were pulled along by oxen or asses.

2. (transitive) To furnish with dowels.

   A cooper dowels pieces for the head of a cask.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “dowel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

References

• “dowel”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “dowel”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• dowle, lowed, owled, wolde