na⋅sal
1
[ney-zuh
l] 
| 1. | of or pertaining to the nose: the nasal cavity. |
| 2. | Phonetics. pronounced with the voice issuing through the nose, either partly, as in French nasal vowels, or entirely (as in m, n, or the ng of song). |
| 3. | Phonetics. a nasal speech sound. |
na⋅sal
2 [ney-zuhl] | a bar or narrow plate used with an open helmet as a defense for the nose. |
1470–80; late ME < ML nāsāle, n. use of neut. of *nāsālis nasal1; r. ME nasel < MF < ML, as above
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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| na·sal (nā'zəl) adj.
[Possibly from Middle English nasale, from Medieval Latin nāsālis, from Latin nāsus, nose; see nas- in Indo-European roots.] na·sal'i·ty (nā-zāl'ĭ-tē) n., na'sal·ly adv. |
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Nasal
Na"sal\ (n[=a]"zal), a. [F., from L. nasus the nose. See Nose.]1. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the nose. 2. (Phon.) Having a quality imparted by means of the nose; and specifically, made by lowering the soft palate, in some cases with closure of the oral passage, the voice thus issuing (wholly or partially) through the nose, as in the consonants m, n, ng (see Guide to Pronunciation, [sect][sect] 20, 208); characterized by resonance in the nasal passage; as, a nasal vowel; a nasal utterance. Nasal bones (Anat.), two bones of the skull, in front of the frontals. Nasal index (Anat.), in the skull, the ratio of the transverse the base of the aperture to the nasion, which latter distance is taken as the standard, equal to 100.Nasal
Na"sal\, n. 1. An elementary sound which is uttered through the nose, or through both the nose and the mouth simultaneously. 2. (Med.) A medicine that operates through the nose; an errhine. [Archaic] 3. (Anc. Armor) Part of a helmet projecting to protect the nose; a nose guard. 4. (Anat.) One of the nasal bones. 5. (Zo["o]l.) A plate, or scale, on the nose of a fish, etc.Cite This Source
nasal
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Main Entry: 1na·sal
Pronunciation: 'nA-z&l
Function: noun
: a nasal part (as a bone)
Main Entry: 2nasal
Function: adjective
: of or relating to the nose <nasal inflammation> —na·sal·ly /'nAz-(&-)lE/ adverb
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nasal na·sal (nā'zəl)
adj.
Of, in, or relating to the nose.
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| nasal (nā'zəl) Pronunciation Key
Relating to or involving the nose. |
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nasal
in phonetics, speech sound in which the airstream passes through the nose as a result of the lowering of the soft palate (velum) at the back of the mouth. In the case of nasal consonants, such as English m, n, and ng (the final sound in "sing"), the mouth is occluded at some point by the lips or tongue and the airstream is expelled entirely through the nose. Sounds in which the airstream is expelled partly through the nose and partly through the mouth are classified as nasalized. Nasalized vowels are common in French (e.g., in vin "wine," bon "good," and enfant "child"), Portuguese, and a number of other languages. There are also instances of nasalized consonants in which the feature of nasalization carries over to a typically nonnasal consonant (e.g., the l in French branlant, "shaky").
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