node

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(nōd) pronunciation
n.
  1. A knob, knot, protuberance, or swelling.
    1. Botany. The point on a stem where a leaf is attached or has been attached; a joint.
    2. See knot1 (sense 7).
  2. Physics. A point or region of virtually zero amplitude in a periodic system.
  3. Mathematics. The point at which a continuous curve crosses itself.
  4. Computer Science. A terminal in a computer network.
  5. Astronomy.
    1. Either of two diametrically opposite points at which the orbit of a planet intersects the ecliptic.
    2. Either of two points at which the orbit of a satellite intersects the orbital plane of a planet.

[Middle English, lump in the flesh, from Latin nōdus, knot.]



Either of the points on the celestial sphere at which the plane of an orbit intersects a reference plane. The position of a node is one of the standard orbital elements used to specify the orientation of an orbit. An antinode lies 90° of orbital longitude away from its corresponding node.

(1) In a communications system, a node is a network junction or connection point. Every terminal, computer, hub and switch is a node.

(2) In database management, a node is an item of data that can be accessed by two or more routes.

(3) In the Document Object Model (DOM), which exposes HTML and XML content to an application or script, every element, every attribute of that element, and each piece of textual content for every attribute is considered a node. See DOM.

(4) In computer graphics, a node is an endpoint of a graphical element.

(5) In multiprocessing systems, a node can be a single processor or system. In MPP, it is one processor. In SMP, it is one computer system with two or more processors and shared memory.

The First Four Nodes of the Internet
Scrawled on this paper in 1969 were the first four nodes of the ARPANET network, which later became the Internet. (Image courtesy of The Computer History Museum, www.computerhistory.org)

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1. In electric wiring, a junction point at which several distribution or wiring conductors come together.
2. A panel point.


node, in astronomy, point at which the orbit of a body crosses a reference plane. One reference plane that is often used is the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun (ecliptic). Since the moon's orbit has an inclination of 5°9′ to the plane of the ecliptic, there are two nodes in the moon's orbit around the earth; the point where the moon in its orbit crosses from south of the ecliptic plane to north of it is called the ascending node, and the point where it crosses from north to south is called the descending node. A line connecting two nodes is called a line of nodes. The lunar nodes are the points where the moon's line of nodes, when extended, strike the celestial sphere. The lunar nodes regress (move westward along the ecliptic) due to perturbations from the other bodies in the solar system, e.g., the sun and planets. Another reference plane that can be used to define nodes is the plane of the earth's equator, which is also the plane of the celestial equator (see equatorial coordinate system). There are two nodes in the sun's apparent orbit around the earth. The ascending node, when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator from south to north, is the vernal equinox; the descending node is the autumnal equinox. Perturbations like those that cause regression of the lunar nodes cause the precession of the equinoxes.


(DOD) A location in a mobility system where a movement requirement is originated, processed for onward movement, or terminated.


A place on a stem where leaves or branches are attached. See also internode.

  1. a knob, lump, or swelling; a constriction, especially when serially repeated (along the length of something).
  2. (in botany) the point on a stem to which a leaf or a lateral branch is attached.
  3. (in physics) a point of zero or minimum displacement in a standing wave or a system of such waves. See also node of Ranvier.
nodal adj.

Previous:nod gene, nociceptor, nociceptive
Next:node of Ranvier, nodoc, nodulation factor

Pl. nodi; a small mass of tissue in the form of a swelling, knot or protuberance, either normal or pathological.

  • n. of Aschoff and Tawara — atrioventricular node.
  • cutaneous n. — an elevated, solid lump, without a necrotic center, about 0.5 inch diameter, caused by acute or chronic inflammation, with an unbroken surface. Called also cutaneous nodule.
  • Flack's n. — see sinoatrial node.
  • hemal n's — see hemal node.
  • Keith's n., Keith–Flack n. — see sinoatrial node.
  • lymph n. — see lymph node.
  • n's of Ranvier — constrictions of myelinated nerve fibers at regular intervals of about 1 mm at which the myelin sheath is absent and theaxon is enclosed only by Schwann cell processes.
  • sinoatrial (S-A) n. — see sinoatrial node.
  • n. of Tawara — atrioventricular node.
(nōd)
n

A swelling or protuberance.

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
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In general, a node is a localised swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex).

Contents

Node may refer to:

In mathematics

In computing and electronics

  • Node (circuits), a region in an electrical circuit where there is no change in potential
  • Node (computer science), the computer representation of a node in a graph, and a basic unit used to build data structures such as linked lists and trees
  • Node (networking), an active device attached to a computer network or other telecommunications network, such as a computer or a switch, or a point in a network topology at which lines intersect or branch
  • Node (UML), the representation of a computational device in the Unified Modeling Language
  • Node.js, a javascript-based programming framework
  • A lithographic node refers to a semiconductor manufacturing process with feature widths of a specified size (e.g. a 16 nanometer node). Die shrink processes using features of a size that is intermediate between two standard nodes are called half-nodes.

In science

  • Biology
  • Astronomy
    • Orbital node, the points where an orbit crosses a plane of reference (often divided into ascending and descending)
  • Physics
    • Node (physics), a point along a standing wave where the wave has minimal amplitude
  • Linguistics
    • Node (linguistics), a branch point in the Tree model, or Node Theory, of language evolution

In music

Other uses

  • Node, a stop in a transportation system
  • Node Magazine, a literary project based on the novel Spook Country by William Gibson
  • Node, a cyborg with a donated human face that is used as a guide in the universe's largest library, in "Silence in the Library" (Doctor Who)
  • Node, the pommel-like part of a Chalice where the stem meets the cup, and is used to make elevation easier.

See also


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Dansk (Danish)
n. - knude, (zool) knæ, led, bladfæste

Nederlands (Dutch)
knooppunt, knobbel, knoest, ingewikkelde situatie, punt van minste storing (golf), punt zonder stroom/voltage (elektronica)

Français (French)
n. - (Astron, Ling, Bot, Phys, Math) n¯ud, (Méd) nodosité

Deutsch (German)
n. - Knoten, Ganglienknoten, Schwingungsknoten

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κόμβος, κόνδυλος, όζος (μίσχου), ρόζος, (αστρον.) δεσμός, (Η/Υ) στοιχείο δικτύου

Italiano (Italian)
nodo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - nó (m), tumor (m) (Patol.), nodo (m) (Anat.)

Русский (Russian)
узел

Español (Spanish)
n. - nodo, nudo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - knut(a), knöl, nod

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
结, 瘤, 节, 茎节

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 結, 瘤, 節, 莖節

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 복잡한 조직의 중심점, 매듭

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - こぶ, 節, 交点, 節点, 中核

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) قطب, طرف, نهايه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮בליטה, קשר, מפרק (בצמח), חור בעטיפה השומנית של עצב, גוף קטן של רקמה שונה בגוף, למשל בלוטה, נקודה בה חוצה מסלול כוכב-לכת את מסלול השמש, נקודה של הפרעה מזערית במערכת גלים, נקודה של אפס זרם או מתח חשמלי, נקודה בה קו חוצה את עצמו, נקודת השיא של עקומה, רכיב ברשת מחשבים‬


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S-A node (sinoatrial node)