Redial

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. To call a telephone number once more by pressing the keys again ; a control on a phone that automatically repeats the most recently dialed number
2. To place another call to a number that was just tried by entering it once more ; a feature or key that redials the last number called without retyping it
3. To dial the same telephone number a second time ; a button that instantly repeats the previous outgoing call number on a handset

Etymology: Redial is a compound of "re-" (again) and "dial," and it is a recent coinage: the verb and noun senses both arise from the telephone, so the word could only have appeared once people were dialling numbers by hand or with a rotary dial. "Dial" itself goes back to Medieval Latin "diale," a sundial or the face of a clock, formed from Latin "dies" (day), so the telephone sense is a surprisingly distant descendant of the sundial's face. The word "dial" in the sense of a numbered disc you turn to call someone is what makes "redial" intelligible: pressing the number again sends the call back out. The same "re-" prefix appears in plenty of everyday verbs, and "redial" simply applies it to the telephone's numbered face.

Synonyms: call back, ring again