nutation
(noun) uncontrolled nodding
Source: WordNet® 3.1
nutation (countable and uncountable, plural nutations)
(physics) A bobbing motion that accompanies the precession of a spinning rigid body.
A nodding motion (of the head etc.).
(astronomy) Any of several irregularities in the precession of the equinoxes caused by varying torque applied to the Earth by the Sun and the Moon.
(botany) The circular motion of the tip of a growing shoot.
Source: Wiktionary
Nu*ta"tion, n. Etym: [L. nutatio a nodding, fr. nutare to nod: cf. F. nutation.]
1. The act of nodding. So from the midmost the nutation spreads, Round and more round, o'er all the sea of heads. Pope.
2. (Astron.)
Definition: A very small libratory motion of the earth's axis, by which its inclination to the plane of the ecliptic is constantly varying by a small amount.
3. (Bot.) (a) The motion of a flower in following the apparent movement of the sun, from the east in the morning to the west in the evening. (b) Circumnutation.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
11 January 2025
(noun) low evergreen shrub of high north temperate regions of Europe and Asia and America bearing red edible berries
The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie,” borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve,” borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah.” The Arabic word qahwah was traditionally held to refer to a type of wine.
