nod
//nɒd//
Forms
- present (v1)
- nod
- past (v2)
- nodded
- past participle (v3)
- nodded
- present participle
- nodding
- 3rd person singular
- nods
- Plural
- nods
Definitions
1.To incline the head up and down, as to indicate agreement.
- ‘She has big breasts’, Chuck said. ‘Who? Patty? Oh yes.’ Hentman nodded. ‘Well, it’s that operation they give in Hollywood and New York. It’s more the rage now than the dilation, and she’s had that done, too.’
2.To briefly incline the head downwards as a cursory greeting.
- I bow to the boss in greeting, and he returns my bow with a nod.
3.To sway, move up and down.
- By every wind that nods the mountain pine.
- Frail snowdrops that together cling / and nod their helmets, smitten by the wing / of many a furious whirl-blast sweeping by.
4.To gradually fall asleep.
- I bow to the boss in greeting, and he returns my bow with a nod.
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.
- Early into Zootopia 2, a character celebrates how easy it was to teach everyone to “set aside their differences and solve bias and prejudice forever”, a winking nod towards the mixed reception of the first film’s themes.
3.A nomination.
- Allen Gregory DeLongpre: Really putting a damper on the ol' Tony nod.
- For the fifth time in her career she received a Grammy nod, she has yet to win the award.
4.Approval.
- The plan is expected to get the nod from councillors at the next meeting.
- Has the BRB received a secret nod from the Ministry to continue the LMR electrification from Weaver Junction to Glasgow?
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1996
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Common
Etymology
From Middle English nodden, probably from an unrecorded Old English *hnodian (“to nod, shake the head”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnodōn, from Proto-Germanic *hnudōną (“to beat, rivet, pound, push”), from Proto-Indo-European *kendʰ-, from *ken- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”).