- a tiny spot, speck, or mark, esp. one made with or as with a pointed object
- a point used in orthography or punctuation; specif.,
- the mark placed above an i or j in writing or printing
- a period, as in a Web address
- any small, round spot: polka dots
- Math.
- a decimal point
- a point used as a symbol of multiplication
- Music
- a point after a note or rest, increasing its time value by one half
- a point put above or below a note to show that it is staccato
- Telegraphy a short sound or click, as in Morse code
Origin of dot
Old English dott, head of boil: probably reinforced (16th circa ) by Dutch dot, akin to German dütte, nipple, Dutch dodde, a plug, Norw, Low German dott, little heap or swellingtransitive verb
dot′ted, dot′ting- to mark with or as with a dot
- to make or form with dots: a dotted line
- to cover with or as with dots; appear as dotlike parts in: gas stations dotted the landscape
to make a dot or dots
dot Idioms
connect the dots
to put discrete or seemingly unrelated pieces of information together to form a theory, explanation, etc.
Origin of dot
in allusion to a children's pastime of connecting printed, prearranged dots with hand-drawn lines, to form a picturedot one's i's and cross one's t's
to be minutely correct or detailed in doing or saying something
on the dot
Informal at the exact time or point
