NUTATION • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Nutation

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noun

Nutation n.

The act of nodding. "So from the midmost the nutation spreads, Round and more round, o'er all the sea of heads."

(Astron.) 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.

(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.

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Etymology of 'Nutation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Nutation" Quotes from Famous Books

... determined with a greater degree of certainty than we are able to attach to the genetic explanation of the phenomenon. After taking into consideration what is due to the precession of the equinoxes, and the nutation of the earth's axis produced by the action of the Sun and Moon on the spheroidal figure of our globe, and what may be ascribed to the transmission of light, that is to say, to its aberration, and to the parallax formed by the diametrically opposite ...

— COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 • Alexander von Humboldt

Words linked to "Nutation" : nod, nutate