navel
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
Etymology: From Middle English navel, navele, from Old English nafola, from Proto-West Germanic *nabulō, from Proto-Germanic *nabalô (“navel”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nóbʰōl (“navel”), diminutive of *h₃nebʰ- (“hub; navel”).
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian nâle (“navel”), Dutch navel (“navel”), German Nabel (“navel”), Vilamovian nowuł (“navel”), Yiddish נאָפּל (nopl, “navel”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk navle (“navel”), Icelandic nafli (“navel”), Swedish navel (“navel”); also Irish imleacán (“navel”), Scottish Gaelic ilmeag, imleag (“navel; nave”), Kashmiri ناب (nāb, “navel”), Latin umbilīcus (“navel”), Greek αφαλός (afalós), ομφαλός (omfalós, “navel”), Old Prussian nabis (“navel”), Armenian անիվ (aniv, “wheel”), Central Kurdish ناوک (nawik, “navel”), Persian ناف (nâf, “navel”), Sanskrit नाभि (nābhi, “navel; centre”),
Doublet of omphalos. More at nave.
Inflected forms:
form: navels
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: navil
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: navels
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: naveling
pos: verb
tags: US
participle
present
form: navelling
pos: verb
tags: UK
participle
present
form: naveled
pos: verb
tags: US
participle
past
form: naveled
pos: verb
tags: US
past
form: navelled
pos: verb
tags: UK
participle
past
form: navelled
pos: verb
tags: UK
past
form: navil
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: The indentation or bump remaining in the abdomen of placental mammals where the umbilical cord was attached before birth.
pos: noun
gloss: The central part or point of anything; the middle.
pos: noun
examples: 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 […]
gloss: A navel orange.
pos: noun
examples: This contributed to a rapid rise in planted acreage in northern California, especially in navels, which are more suited to growing conditions there.
gloss: An eye on the underside of a carronade for securing it to a carriage.
pos: noun
tags: historical
gloss: To be in the middle of a landscape.
pos: verb
tags: literary
poetic
examples: 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 skies, reluctant spares / The oval mirror of thy glassy lake; […]
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 was naveled, and saw the pretty girls of the farm-houses, […]
The crimson berry tree navelled upon this court / Twinkles a coded message, a wind-sun tingling chord, / Curious round her foot saunters one blue jay: […]
Synonyms: bellybutton
belly button
nave
umbilicus
navel
Related words: innie
outie
omphalos
omphaloskepsis
umbilicum mundi
Derived words: contemplate one's navel
fuzzy navel
navel gall
navel-gaze
navel-gazer
navel-gazey
navel-gazing
navel gazing
navelless
navellike
navel orange
navel point
navel ring
navel-string
navel string
navel-watching
navelwort
subnavel
Translations: