Adjacent Words

Navel definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

NAVEL, n. The center of the lower part of the abdomen, or the point where the umbilical cord passes out of the fetus. The umbilical cord is a collection of vessels by which the fetus of an animal communicates with the parent by means of the placenta, to which it is attached.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a scar where the umbilical cord was attached; "you were not supposed to show your navel on television"; "they argued whether or not Adam had a navel"; "she had a tattoo just above her bellybutton" [syn: navel, umbilicus, bellybutton, belly button, omphalos, omphalus]
2: the center point or middle of something; "the Incas believed that Cuzco was the navel of the universe" [syn: navel, navel point]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English nafela; akin to Old High German nabalo navel, Latin umbilicus, Greek omphalos Date: before 12th century 1. a depression in the middle of the abdomen that marks the point of former attachment of the umbilical cord or yolk stalk 2. the central point ; middle

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a depression in the centre of the belly caused by the detachment of the umbilical cord. 2 a central point. Phrases and idioms: navel orange a large seedless orange with a navel-like formation at the top. Etymology: OE nafela f. Gmc, rel. to NAVE(2)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Navel Na"vel (n[=a]"v'l), n. [AS. nafela, fr. nafu nave; akin to D. navel, G. nabel, OHG. nabolo, Icel. nafli, Dan. navle, Sw. nafle, L. umbilicus, Gr. 'omfalo`s, Skr. n[=a]bh[=i]la. [root]260. See Nave hub, and cf. Omphalic, Nombril, Umbilical.] 1. (Anat.) A mark or depression in the middle of the abdomen; the umbilicus. See Umbilicus.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(navels) Your navel is the small hollow just below your waist at the front of your body. N-COUNT

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

na'-v'l (shor. The Septuagint in Pr 3:8 suggests a different reading, namely, instead of shorrekha, sherekha equals she'erkha, "thy flesh")): The King James Version translates the Hebrew sharir in the description of Behemoth (Job 40:16) by "navel," where modern translators have substituted "muscles"; similarly in the translation of shorer (So 7:2) it has been replaced by "body.", There remain two passages of the Revised Version (British and American) where "navel" is retained as the translation of shor. Thus we find the word used, pars pro toto, for the whole being: "It (the fear of Yahweh) will be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones" (Pr 3:8). The uttermost neglect which a new-born babe can experience is expressed by Ezekiel: "In the day thou wast born thy navel (i.e. umbilical cord) was not cut neither wast thou washed in water to cleanse thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all" (Eze 16:4).

H. L. E. Luering

Moby Thesaurus

axis, center, center of action, center of gravity, centroid, centrum, core, dead center, epicenter, heart, hub, kernel, marrow, medulla, metacenter, middle, nave, nub, nucleus, omphalos, pith, pivot, storm center, umbilicus