/ˈneɪvəl/, /ˈneɪbəl/
OriginFrom Middle English navel, navele, from Old English nafola, from Proto-West Germanic *nabulō, from Proto-Germanic *nabalô (compare West Frisian nâle, Dutch navel, German Nabel), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nóbʰōl (compare Old Irish imbliu, Latin umbilīcus, Ancient Greek ὀμφαλός (omphalós), Persian ناف (nâf), Kurdish navik, Sanskrit नाभि (nābhi)), diminutive of *h₃nebʰ-. Doublet of omphalos. More at nave.
- The indentation or bump remaining in the abdomen of placental mammals where the umbilical cord was attached before birth.
- The central part or point of anything; the middle.
“Within the navel of this hideous wood,
Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells,
Of Bacchus and Circe born, great Comus”
“Sweeter than the muſk of Tatar, the morning breeze from the navel of every flower raviſhed perfume.”
“We sat alfresco on the edge of a “square,” in reality a pond of cobbly mud with a plinth plonked in its navel […]”
- A navel orange.
“This contributed to a rapid rise in planted acreage in northern California, especially in navels, which are more suited to growing conditions there.”
- historicalAn eye on the underside of a carronade for securing it to a carriage.
- literary, poeticTo be in the middle of a landscape.
“Lo, Nemi! navelled in the woody hills / So far, that the uprooting wind which tears / The oak from his foundation, and which spills / The ocean o’er its boundary, and bears / Its foam against the skie”
“Within the shade a ruined temple stands / To sight conspicuous, navelled in the pines, / Speaking of Grecian art, since Vandal hands / Defaced her structures, and despoiled her shrines.”
“I rejoice as I call back those pleasant times, when in the casement of our seminary, I rested my telescope on my shut-up Virgil, and looked off among the far-off hills in the lap of which the edifice ”
Formsnavels(plural) · navil(alternative, obsolete) · navels(present, singular, third-person) · naveling(US, participle, present) · navelling(UK, participle, present) · naveled(US, participle, past) · naveled(US, past) · navelled(UK, participle, past) · navelled(UK, past)