sundial

«sundial» in Mova's school dictionary: An old instrument that shows the time of day by the… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a sundial, sundials)

meaning for a pupil

An old instrument that shows the time of day by the shadow that a pointer (the gnomon) casts on a flat dial marked with hours. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science and history lessons a sundial shows how the Sun seems to move across the sky; as the Earth turns, the shadow moves round the dial. It only works when the Sun shines. Pupils make their own with a stick and chalk marks.

examples

• The sundial in the garden shows it is about three o'clock. tree →
• A sundial does not work at night or on cloudy days. tree →
• We made a sundial with a pencil and a paper plate. tree →
• The shadow on the sundial moves as the Earth turns. tree →
• Old churches often have sundials on their walls. tree →
• The shadow is shortest at noon, when the Sun is highest. tree →

note

One word: sun + dial. The shadow moves «clockwise» in the northern hemisphere (that is where clockwise comes from) and the other way in the southern hemisphere. Sundial time can differ from clock time.

In the corpora

• A sundial tells the time from the position of a shadow.
• A sundial tells the time by the shadow of a stick called a gnomon, which moves round as the Earth turns.
• A sundial does not work on a cloudy day or at night, because there is no shadow.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «sundial» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.