▪ I. natal, a.1 and n.1
(ˈneɪtəl)
Also 4–7 natall, 5 natale.
[ad. L. nātāl-is adj. and n., f. nāt-, ppl. stem of nascī to be born, + -ālis: see -al1. Cf. F. natal adj. and n. (15th c.).]
A. adj.
† 1. Presiding over birthdays or nativities.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 150 Now nece myn, by natal Ioves fest, Were I a god, ye sholde sterve as yerne. |
2. Of places: Native. Chiefly poet.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 130 And as for seed, in natal soil hit feede. 1436 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 167 The duke knewe that the townes thre Shulde have loste all hys natale cuntree. c 1480 Henryson Mor. Fab., Lion & Mouse 51 My natall land is Rome withouttin nay. 1605 Camden Rem. 108 Children tooke names from their natall places. 1632 Lithgow Trav. x. 498 Where thence, (O natall place) my soule did coyle. 1725 Pope Odyss. i. 8 Safe with his friends to gain his natal shore. 1762 Kames Elem. Crit. xix. (1833) 349 After a long voyage it was customary among the ancients to salute the natal soil. 1820 Shelley Hymn Merc. xxiv, He sought his natal mountain-peaks divine. 1855 Tennyson Daisy 18 How young Columbus seem'd to rove, Yet present in his natal grove. |
3. Of or pertaining to (one's) birth; connected with, or dating from, one's birth.
| 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 9 The tytyl of hyr natal dygnyte In her yung age she dede forsake. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xxiii. (Arb.) 61 Others for magnificence at the natiuities of Princes children..are called songs natall or Genethliaca. 1663 Sanders Palmistry ii. 31 Thy Natal Stars (meaning the Radical Position of the Heavens at thy Birth) promise thee happy success. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam Ded. i, Ere my fame become A star among the stars.., If it indeed may cleave its natal gloom. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxxi. (1878) 533 A belief that the circumstances of one's natal position are not to be rudely handled. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 733 The pre-natal and natal affections are readily distinguished from this disease. |
| fig. 1848 R. I. Wilberforce Doctr. Incarnation xiv, (1852) 383 In God only is Holiness... From this natal source does the principle of holiness extend itself through the creation. 1872 Blackie Lays Highl. 39 From the scriptured rock at ease I spell Creation's natal chapter. |
b. natal hour or natal day, the hour or day of one's birth; birthday. Also fig.
| 1704 Prior Prol., Her Majesty's Birthday 6 Thou, propitious star, whose sacred power Presided o'er the monarch's natal hour. 1729 T. Cooke Tales, etc. 55 O! Youth..on whom the kindest Ray Has shed an Influence from your natal Day. 1781 Cowper Anti-Thelyphth. 92 Hypothesis (for with such magic power Fancy endued her in her natal hour). 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxv. (1856) 206 The natal day of the prince consort. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. viii. 135 The saint to whom his natal or christening day is sacred. |
c. natal games, ring (see quots.).
| 1727–38 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Natalis, Natal Games were games introduced on the anniversaries of the birth-days of great men. Ibid., Natal Ring..was a ring only worn on the birth-day. 1877 W. Jones Finger-ring 46 Perseus alludes to the natal ring in his first Satire. |
d. Connected with one from birth.
| 1811 W. R. Spencer Poems 97 My natal angel round my heart. 1879 Long æneid ix. 333 Who am all lost, if back Come not my Sire, by our great natal Gods. |
B. n.
† 1. [obs. F. natal.] A birthday-feast.
| 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop iv. xi, He would haue celebrated and holden a natall or a grete feste. |
† 2. pl. [L. nātālēs.] Birthday celebrations. Obs.
| 1597 Bp. Hall Sat. iii. iv, Were yesterday Polemon's natals kept? 1636 C. Fitzgeffrey Blessed Birthday (1881) 119 Why should not we with ioy resound and sing, The blessed Natals of our heauenly King? |
▪ II. natal, a.2
(ˈneɪtəl)
[f. L. nat-is (see nates) + -al1.]
Of or pertaining to the nates or buttocks.
| 1870 H. A. Nicholson Man. Zool. lxxxiii. 556 The natal callosities are generally large and conspicuous. |