nidus

American  

[nahy-duhs] / ˈnaɪ dəs /

noun

plural

nidi

1. a nest, especially one in which insects, spiders, etc., deposit their eggs.

2. a place or point in an organism where a germ or other organism can develop or breed.

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nidus British  

/ ˈnaɪdəs /

noun

1. the nest in which insects or spiders deposit their eggs

2. pathol a focus of infection

3. a cavity in which plant spores develop

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Other Word Forms

• nidal adjective

Etymology

Origin of nidus

1735–45; < Latin nīdus nest

Example Sentences

Among them, occasionally, an underlying structural abnormality in the brain can be the nidus for electrical disarray.

From New York Times

In autopsies they have been found in the urinary tubules, pressing forward and piercing the walls, not occupying a nidus of inflammation, however, and probably are even here a post-mortem phenomenon.

From Project Gutenberg

These writers maintained that whenever any organ was weakened, or in a morbid condition, it was apt to become a nidus for some insects or worms to burrow in.

From Project Gutenberg

The eggs of this shell, contained in a transparent orbicular nidus, the size of a turtle's egg, were found thrown up on the sea-beach of the island.

From Project Gutenberg

A condition of things is found existing, of which the only explanation is that family was the nidus out of which sprung forth the House, then the Tribe, then the Commonwealth with its patriarchal government.

From Project Gutenberg