nodaladj.
/ˈnəʊdl/, U.S. /ˈnoʊd(ə)l/ 1.
a. Designating a line, point, or surface of absolute or comparative rest in a standing wave system; (Mathematics) designating a point or points at which a spherical harmonic or similar periodic function has the value zero. Also in extended use. Chiefly in nodal point.
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a1830 J. F. W. Herschel Sound in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) IV. 782 Such points of rest are called nodes or nodal points, the intermediate portions [of a cord] which vibrate are termed bellies or ventral segments.
1831 M. Faraday Exper. Res. xlvi. 318 Neither sand nor filings could rest on the quiescent, or nodal, lines.
1845 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 135 360 Carbonic acid and nitrogen..might be bracketed with the metals which do not decompose water, as forming the nodal point or zero of the table.
1873 W. Lees Acoustics i. iii. 25 We have not only nodal points in a vibrating string, but we may have nodal lines in a vibrating plate.
1937 J. W. T. Spinks tr. G. Herzberg Atomic Spectra i. 41 On certain spherical surfaces about the nucleus, the ψ function is always zero. These are the nodal surfaces of the ψ function corresponding to the nodes of a vibrating string.
1990 A. Waterman Planetarium 75 Sandgrains on a plate stimulated to vibrate sweet notes from a violin gather to a pattern in the nodal lines.
b. Geometry. Of a curved line or surface, or an area of space: containing a node or nodes.
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the world > relative properties > number > geometry > line > [adjective] > other
finite1570
adscribed1625
comprehending?1677
vertical1704
anharmonic1848
bilinear1851
collinear1863
nodal1863
congruent1864
non-concurrent1888
1863 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 153 455 The nodal generating lines or Nodal Generator.
1887 Proc. Royal Soc. 42 335 The locus..is a second cubic, having..its asymptotes as its nodal tangents.
1910 Amer. Math. Monthly 32 287 This scroll has the line x = y = 0 as a nodal line and xz − y2 = s as a nodal conic.
1981 Amer. Math. Monthly 88 659 The locus above is a nodal cubic curve with the node at P and nodal tangents along the tangent and normal to M at P.
c. Astronomy. Relating to orbital nodes.
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the world > the universe > planet > planetary movement > [adjective] > node
nodical1839
nodal1868
1868 W. Lockyer & J. N. Lockyer tr. A. Guillemin Heavens (ed. 3) 220 It is enough to look out for the body at one or other of these nodal passages.
1872 R. A. Proctor Ess. Astron. ix. 125 The nodal shifting of the meteor-band.
1970 Jrnl. Brit. Astron. Assoc. 80 184 One transit can only follow another after an integral number of years if the inequality (in days) is less than 2t, i.e. from t days before nodal passage to t days after it.
1992 S. P. Maran Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 870/2 When the degree and the azimuthal order are both equal, the nodal circles all lie at right angles to the equator.
2. Botany and Zoology. Of, relating to, containing, or designating a node of a plant stem; (also) designating or relating to a joint or point of branching of the stalk of a crinoid or other invertebrate animal.
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the world > plants > part of plant > stem or stalk > [adjective] > relating to joint or node
nodal1842
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > specific areas or structures > [adjective] > node
internodal1744
nodal1842
1842 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 9 85 I have examined portions of the plant both young and old, and at all portions of the nodal places.
1865 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 155 536 The joints developed in this position are all nodal, that is to say, they subsequently bear whorls of cirri.
1882 S. H. Vines tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. (ed. 2) 191 Each nodal disk consists of the anterior half of an older segment [etc.].
1960 K. Esau Anat. Seed Plants xvi. 214 Buds commonly develop in the axils of leaves so that..the vascular bundles that connect the main stem with the branch may be recognized in the nodal region.
1992 Garden Answers Jan. 46/1 The usual method is to take cuttings with a heel, but it is also worth taking a few nodal cuttings too.
3. figurative. Designating a centre of convergence or divergence; focal. Chiefly in nodal point.
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the mind > attention and judgement > attention > earnest attention, concentration > [noun] > focus of attention
centre1582
focus1751
focal point1755
nodal point1862
centre stage1887
the world > space > relative position > inclination > state or quality of being convergent > [noun] > point of convergence
confluity1623
cone1705
meeting-point1818
conflux1826
confluence1828
nodal point1862
meeting-place1897
node1902
node point1957
1862 M. Hopkins Hawaii 238 These nodal points [in history] determine the length of his chapters.
1863 J. D. Dana Man. Geol. 598 These species occupy nodal points, as they may be called, or points of divarication.
1895 T. Hardy Jude vi. ii He was their nodal point, their focus, their expression in a single term.
1915 J. Buchan Nelson's Hist. War IV. 127 Its main railway station, the nodal point of the Polish lines, lies in the suburb of Praga.
1964 T. McGrath Sel. Poems 3 At nodal points the personal love Changes, if it is pure enough, From single idol in man or woman To equal love for all that's human.
1993 Archit. Rev. Jan. 45/1 Meeting House Square is conceived as a nodal square on the converging axes of several new pedestrian routes through Temple Bar.
2001 Fortean Times Jan. 53/3 Like the tree circle, they are frequently found to be built on earth energy nodal points at the junction of dowsable leys.
4.
a. Physiology and Medicine. Of, relating to or of the nature of the sinoatrial and atrioventricular nodes of the heart; originating in or generated by one of these nodes (spec. the atrioventricular node).
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the world > life > the body > vascular system > heart > [adjective] > other parts of
Thebesian1871
nodal1908
1908 J. Mackenzie Dis. Heart p. xix As it is important to recognize the abnormal rhythm it is provisionally distinguished by the term ‘nodal rhythm’.
1923 W. D. Reid Heart in Mod. Pract. iii. 59 The nodal extrasystole is not common. It gives rise to an exaggerated wave in the phlebogram.
1961 Lancet 9 Sept. 574/1 The nodal pacemaker gradually increased in rate with sudden re-emergence of ventricular fibrillation.
1974 V. B. Mountcastle et al. Med. Physiol. (ed. 13) II. xxxiii. 851/1 Rhythms originating in the atrioventricular node are called nodal rhythms.
1998 Morphologie 82 11 Nodal cells are irregular with few cytoplasmic organelles and several slender sarcolemmal modifications.
b. Histology and Physiology. Of or relating to the nodes of Ranvier.
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1937 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 123 505 The axis cylinder is weakly uniaxially positive in life, particularly at the regions of nodal constriction.
1967 Brain 90 326 When the current fell below the threshold necessary to depolarize the nodal membrane, conduction of the impulse ceased.
1990 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87 9830/1 Precise identification of the original nodal site was frequently not possible with certainty.
c. Anatomy and Medicine. Of or relating to lymph nodes.
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the world > life > the body > secretory organs > gland > types of gland > [adjective]
pituita1598
pituitary1615
lymphatic1649
conglomerated1656
conglobate1666
conglomerate1666
conglobated1676
lymphic1681
conglobulate1709
sudoriferous1713
sudorific1721
sebaceous1728
trajectory1747
cryptal1754
cryptous1804
muciparous1825
racemose1834
racemiform1837
ganglionary1842
muciferous1842
sudoriparous1851
sebiparous1853
racemous1854
sebiferous1858
perilymphangial1873
lymphadenoid1877
perilymphatic1877
mucigenous1881
pituital1890
tubuloracemosec1900
acinic1903
holocrine1905
merocrine1905
exocrine1911
endocrine1914
endocrinic1914
endocrinous1914
endocrinal1923
apocrine1926
eccrine1931
psychoendocrine1946
acinar1949
nodal1954
mucigenic1965
1954 Lab. Invest. 3 509 It was thought of interest to compare..these activities of the lymph nodal and thymic cells of CFW mice.
1967 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jrnl. 97 1279/2 It was usually difficult to distinguish between nodal and extranodal disease.
2003 Dis. Colon & Rectum 46 333 The presence of nodal micrometastases leads to a poor prognosis.
Compounds
nodal fever n. Medicine (now historical) erythema nodosum.
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1905 A. A. Lendon Nodal Fever i. 3 As the English equivalent for the new name ‘febris nodosa’, I have adopted the term ‘nodal fever’.
1952 Acta Medica Scandinavica 142 263 24 [patients]developed their nodal fever during lactation.
1968 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 29 Feb. 489/2 22 per cent of 107 female patients with bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy and erythema nodosum experienced the onset of ‘nodal fever’ during lactation.
nodal point n. (a) (see senses 1a, 3); (b) Optics either of two points on the optic axis of a lens or lens system such that the straight line joining one of them to a point on the object is parallel to the line joining the other to the corresponding point on the image.
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the world > movement > absence of movement > [noun] > suspense of movement > point or line of rest in oscillating body
nodal pointa1830
nodea1830
a1830Nodal point [see sense 1a].
1880 J. Le Conte Sight 29 This point of ray-crossing is called the nodal point.
1962 H. C. Weston Sight, Light & Work (ed. 2) i. 5 This line is the optic axis, and on it lies the optical centre of the refracting system, called the nodal point.
1977 J. Hedgecoe Photographer's Handbk. 336/3 Nodal points are used for optical calculations, e.g. to calculate focal length.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.a1830