nutational, a.
(njuːˈteɪʃənəl)
[f. nutation + -al.]
Of or pertaining to nutation.
| 1881 W. D. Hay 300 Years Hence viii. 152 The precessional and nutational movements of the earth. 1959 Van Lear & Lassen in Puckett & Ramo Guided Missile Engin. x. 275 If the gyro is started up with the inner gimbal initially inclined to the plane perpendicular to the outer gimbal, there is first a transitory nutational bobbing around. 1965 Bell & Coombe tr. Strasburger's Textbk. Bot. 361 In both kinds of movement the mechanical cause may be either a difference in growth rates on the two sides of an organ (nutational movements) or differential changes in the turgor of the cells (variational movements). |