▪ I. dowel, n.
(ˈdaʊəl)
Forms: 4–6 dowle, 7–8 doul(e, 8 dowl, (dole), 9 dowel, -ell.
[Of doubtful derivation; perh. answering to MLG. dovel, Ger. döbel, MHG. tübel, OHG. tubili plug, tap (of a cask, etc.). Still closer in form is OF. doelle, douelle barrel-stave, dim. of mod.F. douve in same sense; but the transference of sense is unexplained.]
1. A headless pin, peg, or bolt, of wood, metal, or other material, serving to fasten together two pieces of wood, stone, etc., by penetrating some distance into the substance of the connected pieces.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 21270 (Fairf.) Þe quelis ar ioyned with mani a dowle. 1388 Wyclif 1 Kings vii. 33 The extrees..the spokis and dowlis [1382 felijs; Vulg. modioli] of the wheelis. 1483 Cath. Angl. 105/1 A Dowle of a whele; stellio. 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 112 The felly with the pins or dowels on the end, by which it is kept secure at the joints. 1862 Sat. Rev. 15 Mar. 303 An immense block of stone..bolted into sockets in the masonry below by bronze dowels fixed into its lower face. 1876 Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss., Dowel, a pin of wood or iron used at the edges of boards in laying floors to avoid the appearance of the nails on the surface. |
2. A plug of wood driven into a wall to receive nails; a dook. [Ger. döbel, dübel.]
| 1864 in Webster. 1874 in Knight Dict. Mech. |
3. Comb., as dowel-bit, a boring-tool of semi-cylindrical form terminating in a conoidal edge; also called a spoon-bit; dowel-hole, a hole into which a dowel is or may be inserted; dowel-joint, a junction formed by means of a dowel or dowels; dowel-pin = sense 1; dowel-pointer, a tool for pointing or chamfering the ends of dowels; dowel-ways adv., in the manner of a dowel.
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies iii. (1662) 20 Having every stone..shaped Doule-wayes, or in the form of a Cart-nail. 1707 T. N. City & C. Purchaser 187 They cleave these Bolts (with their Dowl-Ax) by the Felt-grain. 1743 Lond. & Country Brew. ii. (ed. 2) 108 There are Joints, down⁓right Pegs, or Dole-pins. 1885 Academy 21 Nov. 326/1 The floor has raised edges, in which are visible the dowel-holes to hold wooden panels. |
▪ II. dowel, v.
(ˈdaʊəl)
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To fasten with a dowel or dowels.
| 1713 J. Warder True Amazons 108 You must doule or nail together on the under Side, 2 Boards. 1792 Acc. Buggesses in Ann. Reg. 66 Dowling the planks together, as coopers do the parts that form the head of a cask. 1883 Gore in Glasgow Weekly Her. 7 July 2/7 These [columns] are not cemented but dowelled with iron clamps in the centre. |
Hence dowelled ppl. a., dowelling vbl. n.
| 1805 Times 7 Nov. 4/2 Excellent dowelled flooring. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. App. 76 To lay dowelled floors. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. iii. 183/2 The method of uniting boards in a flat surface, called ‘dowelling’. |