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.
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Anatomy, Medicine, Sciences The indentation or bump remaining in the abdomen of placental mammals where the umbilical cord was attached before birth.
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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 Comus1637, John Milton, A Mask presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634:
Sweeter than the muſk of Tatar, the morning breeze from the navel of every flower raviſhed perfume.1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page iv:
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We sat alfresco on the edge of a “square,” in reality a pond of cobbly mud with a plinth plonked in its navel […]2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Sceptre (Hodder and Stoughton), →ISBN:
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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.1981, Peter K. Thor, Edward V. Jesse, Economic Effects of Terminating Federal Marketing Orders for California-Arizona Oranges:
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Historical An eye on the underside of a carronade for securing it to a carriage.
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.
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; […]1818, Lord Byron, “Canto IV”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Fourth, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza CLXXIII, page 89:
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.1819, J[eremiah] H[olmes] Wiffen, “Aspley Wood”, in Aonian Hours; and Other Poems, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, canto II, stanza LXII, page 102:
2 more examples
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, […]1835 August, Ollapod [pseudonym], “Ollapodiana. Number Four.”, in The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, volume VI, number 2, New York, N.Y.: [Lewis Gaylord] Clark and [Clement] Edson, […], page 122:
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: […]1965, C[ecil] Day Lewis, “Madrigal for Lowell House”, in The Room & Other Poems, London: Jonathan Cape, page 53: