nod

English

Etymology

From Middle English nodden, probably from an unrecorded Old English *hnodian (“to nod, shake the head”), from Proto-Germanic *hnudōną (“to beat, rivet, pound, push”), from Proto-Indo-European *kendʰ-, from *ken- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”). Compare Old High German hnotōn (“to shake”), hnutten (“to shake, rattle, vibrate”) (> modern dialectal German notteln, nütteln (“to rock, move back and forth”)), Icelandic hnjóða (“to rivet, clinch”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /nɒd/ /nɒːd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /nɑd/
• (General Australian, Estuary English, Wales) IPA^(key): /nɔd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒd, -ɑd, -ɔd
• Homophone: gnawed (in accents with the cot-caught merger)

Verb

nod (third-person singular simple present nods, present participle nodding, simple past and past participle nodded)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To incline the head up and down, as to indicate agreement.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To briefly incline the head downwards as a cursory greeting.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To sway, move up and down.
   • 1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: for Taylor and Hessey, , →OCLC, page 1:

     By every wind that nods the mountain pine.

   • 1819, William Wordsworth, On Seeing a Tuft of Snowdrops in a Storm:

     Frail snowdrops that together cling / and nod their helmets, smitten by the wing / of many a furious whirl-blast sweeping by.

4. (intransitive) To gradually fall asleep.
5. (transitive) To signify by a nod.

   They nodded their assent.

6. (intransitive) To make a mistake by being temporarily inattentive or tired

   Even Homer nods.

7. (transitive, intransitive, soccer) To head; to strike the ball with one's head.

   Jones nods the ball back to his goalkeeper.

   • 2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC‎:

     With the hosts not able to find their passes - everything that went forward was too heavy or too short - Terry once again had to come to his side's rescue after Davies had brilliantly nodded into the path of Elmander, who followed up swiftly with a deflected shot.

8. (intransitive, figuratively) To allude to something.
   • March 15 2012, Soctt Tobias, The Kid With A Bike

     Though the title nods to the Italian neo-realist classic Bicycle Thieves—and Cyril, much like the father and son in that movie, spends much of his time tracking down the oft-stolen possession—The Kid With A Bike isn’t about the bike as something essential to his livelihood, but as his sole connection to the freedom and play of childhood itself.

9. (intransitive, slang) To fall asleep while under the influence of opiates.

Coordinate terms

• (incline the head): wag, yes

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

nod (plural nods)

1. An instance of inclining the head up and down, as to indicate agreement, or as a cursory greeting.
2. A reference or allusion to something.
   • 2012 May 31, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Review: Snow White And The Huntsman”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎:

     Much like Mirror Mirror, Huntsman appears to borrow liberally from other fantasy films. Sometimes the nods are clever—Stewart’s first night in the forest, among hallucinatory fog that gives the trees faces and clutching hands, evokes Disney’s animated Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs from 1937.

3. A nomination.

   For the fifth time in her career she received a Grammy nod, she has yet to win the award.

   • 2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1):

     Allen Gregory DeLongpre: Really putting a damper on the ol' Tony nod.

4. (figurative) Approval.

   The plan is expected to get the nod from councillors at the next meeting.

   • 1964 August, “News and Comment: One main line to Scotland?”, in Modern Railways, page 86:

     Has the BRB received a secret nod from the Ministry to continue the LMR electrification from Weaver Junction to Glasgow?

5. A state of half-consciousness; stupor.
   • 1988 August 20, Wickie Stamps, “Voluptuous Nudes and Withered Addicts”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 6, page 7:

     Withered addicts drooped into chronic heroin nods.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

• DON, Don, Don., ODN, don, don'

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• nodu

Etymology 1

From Latin nōdus. Compare Daco-Romanian nod.

Noun

nod

1. knot

Etymology 2

From Latin nōdō. Compare Daco-Romanian înnoda, înnod (archaic noda).

Alternative forms

• nodu, anod, anodu

Verb

nod first-singular present indicative (past participle nudatã)

1. to knot, tie a knot

Related terms

• nudari / nudare
• nudat

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish not, from Latin nota. Doublet of nóta.

Pronunciation

• (Munster, Connacht) IPA^(key): /n̪ˠɔd̪ˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /n̪ˠʌd̪ˠ/

Noun

nod m (genitive singular noid, nominative plural noda)

1. scribal contraction, abbreviation
2. hint (clue; tacit suggestion)

Declension

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “nod”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “not, nod”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Northern Kurdish

Numeral

nod

1. ninety

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

nod n (definite singular nodet, indefinite plural nod, definite plural noda)

1. a bent spike on a nail (or similar) which is hammered through a medium (e.g. a piece of wood)

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *naudi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɔːd/

Noun

nōd f

1. a need
2. a necessity for something

Descendants

• Middle Low German: nōt
  • Westphalian:

    Sauerländisch: nôd

    Westmünsterländisch: Nood

  • Plautdietsch: Noot

Romanian

Etymology

Inherited from Latin nōdus, from Proto-Indo-European *gned-, *gnod- (“to bind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nod/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

nod n (plural noduri)

1. knot

Declension

Related terms

• înnoda
• noadă
• nodei
• nodos
• noduros

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /noːd/
• Rhymes: -oːd

Etymology 1

From Middle Welsh not, from Proto-Brythonic *nod, from Latin nota. Cognate with Cornish nos, Old Breton not, Old Irish not, Irish nod.

Noun

nod m (plural nodau, not mutable)

1. mark, brand
2. aim, objective, goal

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English node, from Latin nōdus.

Noun

nod m (plural nodau or nodion, not mutable)

1. (botany) leaf node
2. (medicine) node

   Synonym: oddf

3. (geometry, graph theory) node
4. (physics) node
5. (astronomy) node

   Synonyms: cwlwm, trawsglwm, oddf

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

nod

1. Nasal mutation of dod.

References

Mutation