noddle 
II. trait*. To nod or cause to nod frequently. 
She noddled her head, was saucy, and said rude things 
to one's face. Graves, Spiritual Quixote, v. 10. 
noddockt (nod'ok), . [Also nodock; appar. 
the same, with d'iff . dim. suffix -ock, as noddle.] 
Same as noddle. 
noddy 1 (nod'i), . ; pi. noddies (-iz). [Prob. < 
inxl + -yl, as if 'sleepy-head'; cf. noddy-poll. 
Cf. also noddle 1 .'] 1. A simpleton ; a fool. 
Hum. What do you think I am? 
Jasp. An arrant noddy. 
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, ii. 4. 
Nay see; she will not understand him ! gull, noddy. 
B. Jonson, Alchemist, iv. 2. 
2. A large dark-colored tern or sea-swallow of 
the subfamily Sterninte and the group Anoece or 
genus Anoiis, found on most tropical and warm- 
temperate sea-coasts : so called from their ap- 
parent stupidity. The several species are much alike, 
having a sooty-brown or fuliginous plumage, with the top of 
the head white, the bill and feet black.large pointed wings, 
and long graduated tail. The common noddy is Anaiis 
stolidm, which abounds on the southern Atlantic coast of 
the United States and elsewhere. See cut under Anoiis. 
3. The murre, Lomvia troile. [Local, Massa- 
chusetts.] 4. The ruddy duck, Erismatura 
rulrida. [New Berne, North Carolina.] 5f. 
An old game of cards, supposed to have been 
played like cribbage. 
I left her at cards : shell sit up till you come, because 
she'll have you play a game at noddy. 
Middleton, Blurt, Master-Constable, in. 2. 
Cran. Gentlemen, what shall our game be? 
Wend. Master Frankford, you play best at Noddy. 
Heywood, Woman Killed with Kindness. 
6t. The knave in this game. 7. A kind of four- 
wheeled cab with the door at the back, former- 
ly in use. 
One morning early, Jean-Marie led forth the Doctor's 
noddy, opened the gate, and mounted to the driving-seat. 
R. L. Stevenson, Treasure of Franchard. 
noddy 1 ! (nod'i), v. t. [< noddy 1 , n.] To make a 
fool of. Davies. 
If such an asse be noddied for the nonce, 
I say but this to helpe his idle fit, 
Let him but thanke himselfe for lacke of wit. 
Breton, Pasquil's Fooles cappe, p. 24. 
noddy 2 (nod'i), n. [< worfi + -y 1 . Cf. noddy^.] 
A device designed to show the oscillation of the 
support of a pendulum. It consists of an inverted 
pendulum held in a vertical position by a reed or spring 
connecting it with its support. The force tending to re- 
store the noddy to the vertical is the excess of the force of 
the spring over the moment of gravity, and its oscillation 
is therefore generally slow. 
noddy-pollt, . [Also noddipoll, noddipol, nody- 
poll; < noddy 1 + poll 1 ."] A simpleton. 
Or els so foolyshe, that a verye nodypoll nydyote myght 
be ashamed to say it Sir T. Mnre, Works, p. 709. 
noddy-tern (nod'i-tern), . Same a.snoddy'i, 2. 
node (nod), n. [< P. node, in vernacular uses 
noend, OF. nod, no, nou = Sp. nodo, in vernacu- 
lar uses nudo = Pg. It. nodo, < L. nodus, for 
"gnodiis, a knot, =E. knot: see knot*.] 1. A 
knot, or what resembles one; a knob; a pro- 
tuberance. Hence 2. Inpathol.: (a) A hard 
swelling on a ligament, tendon, or bone. (6) 
A hard concretion or incrustation on a joint 
affected with gout or rheumatism. Specifical- 
ly 3. In anat., a joint, articulation, or con- 
dyle, as one of the knuckles of the hand, 
bones being usually enlarged at their articular 
ends, thus constituting nodes or knotted parts 
between slenderer portions technically called 
internodes. 4. In entom., any knot-like part 
or organ. Specifically (a) The basal segment of an 
insect's abdomen when it is short and strongly constrict- 
ed before and behind, so as to be distinctly separated, 
not only from the thorax, but from the rest of the abdo- 
men. The term is especially used in describing ants, some 
species of which have the second abdominal ring con- 
stricted in the same manner, forming a second node be- 
hind the first. (6) A notch in the anterior margin of the 
wing of a dragon-fly where the marginal and costal veins 
meet and appear to be knotted together. 
5. In bot., the definite part of a stem which 
normally bears a leaf, or a whorl of leaves, or 
in cryptogams, such as Equisetum and Chara, 
the points on the stem at which foliar organs 
of various kinds are borne. See cut in next 
column. 6. In astron., one of the points in 
which two great circles of the celestial sphere, 
such as the ecliptic and equator, or the orbit of 
a planet and the ecliptic, intersect each other; 
especially, one of the points at which a celestial 
orbit cuts the plane of the ecliptic. The node at 
which a heavenly body passes or appears to pass to the 
north of the plane of the orbit or great circle with which 
Us own orbit or apparent orbit is compared is called the 
ascending node ; that where it descends to the south is 
called the descending node. (See dragon'* head and tail, 
under draijon.) At the vernal equinox the sun is in its 
ascending node, at the autumnal equinox in its descending 
-HUM; 
noduled 
to a revolution from a node to the same node 
again : as, the nodical revolutions of the moon. 
nodicorn (nod'i-k&rn), a. [< L. nodus, knot, + 
cornii = E. horn."] Having nodose antennse, 
as certain hemiptorous insects. 
nodiferous (no-dif 'e-rus), n. [< L. nodus, knot, 
+ fcrre = E. war*.] In bot., bearing nodes. 
nodiform (no'di-form), . [< L. nodus, knot, 
+ forma, form.] In entom., having the form 
of a knot or little swelling: specifically said 
of a tarsal joint when it is small and partly 
concealed by the contiguous joints. 
Nodosaria (no-do-sa'ri-a), n. [NL., < L. nodo- 
sus, knotty (see nodose)" + -aria.'] A genus of 
polythalamic or multilocular foraminifers, typ- 
ical of the Nodosariidie. The cells are thrown out 
from the primitive spherule in linear series so as to form 
a shell composed of numerous chambers arranged in a 
straight or curved line. They occur fossil in Chalk, Ter- 
tiary, and recent formations. 
nodosarian (no-do-sa'ri-an), a. and n. I. a. 
Of or pertaining to the genus Nodosaria : ap- 
plied especially to a stage of development re- 
sembling Nodosaria. 
S ^>'K^ 
Nodosaria + -ida:."] A family of perforate Fo- 
node. The straight line Joining the nodes is called the raminifera, typified by the genus Nodosaria. 
line of nodes. nodosarinc (no-do-sa'rin), -a. [< Nodosaria + 
7. In acoustics, a point or line in a vibratile _ ingl , p er ^ aininf? to y o dosaria or the Nodo- 
body, whether a stretched stnng or membrane, M ,,-^ or naving e their characters, 
a solid rod, plate or bell or a column of air, nodose ' (ll6 'd6s), a. [= Pg. It. nodoso, < L. 
which, when the body is thrown into vibration, Horf v knotty '< , w<Jus a knot: see node."] 1. 
remains either absolutely or relatively at rest : In 6o , knottv or knobby ; provided with knots 
opposed to loop. 8. Figuratively, a knot ; an or in ^ m&l transverse partitions, as the leaves 
entanglement. [Rare.] 
There are characters which are continually creating 
collisions and nodes for themselves In dramas which no- 
body is prepared to act with them. 
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xix. 
9. In dialing, a point or hole in the gnomon of 
a dial, by the shadow of or light through which others being 'dender. 
of some species of Juneus. 2. In zool.: (a) 
Having a node or nodes: said of a longitudinal 
body which is swollen or dilated at one or more 
points. (&) Having knot -like swellings on the 
surface Nodose antennae, in entom., antennie hav- 
ing one, two, or more enlarged and knot-like joints, the 
ture, are shown. 10. In genm.: (a) A point The state or quality of being nodose or knotty ; 
upon a curve such that any line passing through knottiness. 2. A knotty swelling or protuber- 
it cuts the curve at fewer distinct points than ance; a knot. 
lines in general do. At a node a curve has two or 
more distinct tangents. If two of these are real, the 
curve appears to cross itself at this point; if they are all 
imaginary, the point is isolated from the rest- of the real 
part of the curve, (b) A double point of a surface ; 
small knots or lumps. 
nodulated (nod'u-la-ted), a. [< nodule + -ofel 
+ -i 2 .] Having nodules; nodose. 
On the hard palate . . . was an irregularly raised patch 
of nodulated character. Lancet, No. 3457, p. 1119. 
No, no ; ... it [Croft's Life of Young] is not a good 
imitation of Johnson ; it has all his pomp without his 
force ; it has all the nodosities of the oak without its 
strength ; it has all the contortions of the sibyl without 
the inspiration. Burke, in Prior, xvi. 
a point where there are more than one tangent- nodous (no'dus), a. [< L. nodosus, knotty : see 
plane; especially, a conical point where the nodose."] Knotty; full of knots. [Rare.] 
form of the surface in the infinitesimally dis- This (the ring-finger] is seldom or lastof all affected with 
tant neighborhood is that of a double cone of the gout, and when that becometh nodous, men continue 
any order. But there are other kinds of nodes of aur- t long after. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iv .4. 
faces, as trinodei, binodes, and unodes (see these words), as nodular (nod'u-lar), a. [< nodule + -ar j .] 
well as nodal curves. See nodal, (c) A point of a Pertaining to or in the form of a nodule or 
surface: so called because it is a node of the knot; consisting of nodules Nodular Iron ore. 
curve of intersection of the surface with the Same as eaglestone. 
tangent-plane at that point. Cayley.- Lunar nodulariOUS (nod-u-la'ri-us), . [< nodule H 
nodes, the points at which the orbit of the moon cuts the -arious.] Having nodules ; characterized by 
ecliptic. Nodes of Kanvier, apparent constrictions in 
the peripheral medullated nerve-fibers, at regular inter- 
vals, where the white substance is interrupted. 
node-and-flecnode (nod'and-flek'nod), . A 
singularity of a surface consisting of a double 
tangent-plane which intersects the surface in 
a curve having a flecnode at one of the points nodulation (nod-u-la'shon), . [< nodule H 
of tar.gency. -ation.] The state of being nodulated; also, 
node-and-spinode (nod'and-spi'nod), n. A the process of becoming nodulated. 
singularity of a surface consisting of a double The nodulation of the material may go on in that posi- 
tangent-plane having a parabolic contact at one H n - 
of the points of tangency. nodule (nod'ul), . [< L. nodultts, a little knot, 
node-COUple (nod'kup'l), . A pair of points dim. of nodus, a knot: see node.] A little knot 
on a surface at which one plane is tangent: so or lump. Specifically (o) In anat,, the anterior end 
called because a point of tangency of two sur- of the inferior vermiform process of the cerebellum, pro- 
fnoea is nlwav* a iindp of thpir ciirvp of inter jecting into the fourth ventricle, in front of the uvula. 
Also called laminated tubercle and nodv.hu. (b) In entom., 
a small rounded elevation on a surface ; a tubercle, (c) In 
bot. , the strongly refractive thickening to be observed on 
the valval side of many diatom frustules. occurring in the 
middle and at the end of the central clear space not oc- 
cupied by the transverse striae, (a) In geol., a rounded, 
variously shaped mineral mass: a form of concretionary 
structure frequently seen, especially in clay and argilla- 
ceous limestones. The earthy carbonate of iron (clay- 
ironstoneX an important ore, very commonly occurs in 
the nodular form. The common clay-stones called .fairy- 
stones in Scotland furnish a good illustration of this 
mode of occurrence of mineral matter. The nucleus of all 
these is generally some organized substance, as a piece 
of sponge, a shell, a leaf, a fish, or the excrement of 
section. Node-couple curve, a curve on a surface 
the locus of all its node-couples. 
node-CUSp (nod'kusp), . A singularity of a 
plane curve produced by the union of a node, a 
cusp, an inflection, and a bitangent; a ram- 
phoid cusp. 
node-plane (nod 'plan), . A tangent-plane to 
a surface. Cayley. 
node-triplet (npd'trip"let), n. A singularity of 
a surface consisting of a plane which touches 
the surface in three points. 
nodi, n. Plural of nodus. 
nodiak (no'di-ak), n. [Native name.] The 
Papuan spiny ant-eater, Zaglossus or Acaittlto- 
glossit* lirtiijiii. It is of more robust form than the 
common Australian echidna, with a much longer decurved 
fishes or other animals; but sometimes an inorganic frag- 
ment serves as the center. Nodules, as of troilite, graph- 
ite, etc., often occur in masses of meteoric iron. See me- 
teorite. Lymphoid nodules. See lymptioid. Nodules 
ofArantius. See corpora Arantii, under cor^mn. 
snout, three-clawed feet, and spiny tongue "the color is noduled (nod'uld), a. [< nodule + -ed 2 .] Hav- 
blackish with white spines. The animal lives in burrows, j ll(y little knots or lumps. 
and subsists on insects. See cut under Echidnidce. 
j. v / j/ i i\ i-^ j i 1 1 T uiBsecT WITH jiiiiimK'rs nne 
nodical (nod 1-kal), . [< node H- -40-Oi.J In The granite rock, the noduld flint calcine. 
axtrnii., of or pertaining to the nodes: applied Dr. E. Darwin, Botanical Garden, i. 2. 298. (Latham.') 
