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

What would there be in his system which could furnish a nidus for its reception?

From Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in All Ages Including a System of Vegetable Cookery by Alcott, William A. (William Andrus)

Certain seeds which are required to find a nidus for themselves under unfavorable circumstances have been supplied by nature with an apparatus of hooks, so that they will get a hold on very unreceptive surfaces.

From The Mill on the Floss by Eliot, George

Here I observed Tupistra, Asplenium nidus, at 200 feet above the bed of a nullah. 

From Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries by Griffith, William