English

Noun

nates pl ‎(plural only)

1. (anatomy, medicine) The two anterior of the four lobes on the dorsal side of the midbrain of most mammals; the anterior optic lobes.
2. The buttocks.
   • 1963, Anthony Burgess, Inside Mr Enderby

     Enderby watched her warily as she lay prone, having kicked the clothes off the bed, her nates silvered by the Roman moonlight to the likeness of a meringue.

   • 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin 2006, p. 3:

     He sat cross-legged on a damask pillow and scrutinized the pale puckered nates with the air of an epicure examining a fly in his vichyssoise.

3. (zoology) The umbones of a bivalve shell.

Anagrams

• antes
• neats

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈna.teːs/

Etymology 1

From natis ‎(“rump, buttocks”).

Noun

natēs

1. nominative plural of natis
2. accusative plural of natis
3. vocative plural of natis

Etymology 2

Inflected form of natō ‎(“swim, float”).

Verb

natēs

1. second-person singular present active subjunctive of natō

References

• nates in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• nates in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• NATES in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “nates”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.