nod.
To incline the head up and down, as to indicate agreement.
Meaning & usage
To incline the head up and down, as to indicate agreement.
To briefly incline the head downwards as a cursory greeting.
To sway, move up and down.
To gradually fall asleep.
To signify by a nod.
They nodded their assent.
To make a mistake by being temporarily inattentive or tired
Even Homer nods.
To head; to strike the ball with one's head.
Jones nods the ball back to his goalkeeper.
To allude to something.
To fall asleep while under the influence of opiates.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English nodden, probably from an unrecorded Old English *hnodian (“to nod, shake the head”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnodōn, from Proto-Germanic *hnudōną (“to beat, rivet, pound, push”), from Proto-Indo-European *kendʰ-, from *ken- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”). Compare Old High German hnotōn (“to shake”), hnutten (“to shake, rattle, vibrate”) (> modern dialectal German notteln, nütteln (“to rock, move back and forth”)), Faroese njóða (“to clench a nail”), Icelandic hnjóða (“to rivet, clinch”), Faroese noða (“to double by bending”), Icelandic hnoða (“to clinch, rivet”).
An instance of inclining the head up and down, as to indicate agreement, or as a cursory greeting.
A reference or allusion to something.
A nomination.
For the fifth time in her career she received a Grammy nod, she has yet to win the award.
Approval.
The plan is expected to get the nod from councillors at the next meeting.
A state of half-consciousness; stupor.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English nodden, probably from an unrecorded Old English *hnodian (“to nod, shake the head”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnodōn, from Proto-Germanic *hnudōną (“to beat, rivet, pound, push”), from Proto-Indo-European *kendʰ-, from *ken- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”). Compare Old High German hnotōn (“to shake”), hnutten (“to shake, rattle, vibrate”) (> modern dialectal German notteln, nütteln (“to rock, move back and forth”)), Faroese njóða (“to clench a nail”), Icelandic hnjóða (“to rivet, clinch”), Faroese noða (“to double by bending”), Icelandic hnoða (“to clinch, rivet”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.