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 • Sep. 25, 2019

The S.D.P., however, had the advantage of being able to coalesce around the nidus of a small, old, still breathing third party, the Liberals.

From Time Magazine Archive

These structural peculiarities of the testa in different plants have relation to the scattering of the seed and its germination upon a suitable nidus.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 3 "Frost" to "Fyzabad" by Various

I have also found the little depressions caused by the tread of cattle affording a fine nidus for the plants.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 385, May 19, 1883 by Various

The words used to designate such fittings are: nidus; forulus, or more usually foruli; loculamenta; pluteus; pegmata.

From The Care of Books by Clark, John Willis