nodular, a.
(ˈnɒdjʊlə(r))
[f. nodule + -ar.]
1. Min. and Geol. Having the form of, occurring in, nodules.
| 1794 Sullivan View Nat. II. 6 Nor will I say, that they were originally created in nodular forms. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 270 Found massive,..very rarely specular, or Botryoidal, or nodular. 1802–3 tr. Pallas's Trav. (1812) II. 222 We observed..veins of red, nodular iron-ore. 1863 Dana Man. Geol. 239 The structure of the limestone is often nodular or concretionary. 1878 Ramsay Phys. Geogr. xi. 160 Layers and nodular masses of gypsum. |
2. Of zoophytes: Having nodes on the stem.
| 1846 Dana Zooph. (1848) iv. 83 The germ-polyp..gives rise to the various branching and nodular zoophytes. |
3. Path. Of the nature of, characterized by, knotty tumours.
| 1872 Cohen Dis. Throat 205 The surface of implantation at the basilary apophysis remained unequal and nodular. 1878 T. Bryant Pract. Surg. I. 700 A spongy nodular feel of the mucous membrane. 1898 P. Manson Trop. Diseases 394 The essential element in nodular leprosy is the leproma. |
4. Metallurgy. Of cast iron: containing all the graphite in the form of small spheroids rather than flakes, which results in increased strength and ductility and can be brought about by adding a suitable inoculant. Cf. spheroidal a.
| 1947 Machinery LXX. 420/1 (heading) Nodular cast iron. 1950 [see inoculation 3]. 1967 A. H. Cottrell Introd. Metallurgy xxv. 520 In nodular cast irons the structure is developed directly, in an as-cast grey iron, by adding a small amount of magnesium or cerium alloy to the metal in the ladle. |