navel

navel
    n 1: a scar where the umbilical cord was attached; "you were not
         supposed to show your navel on television"; "they argued
         whether or not Adam had a navel"; "she had a tattoo just
         above her bellybutton" [syn: {navel}, {umbilicus},
         {bellybutton}, {belly button}, {omphalos}, {omphalus}]
    2: the center point or middle of something; "the Incas believed
       that Cuzco was the navel of the universe" [syn: {navel},
       {navel point}]
    

Navel \Na"vel\ (n[=a]"v'l), n. [AS. nafela, fr. nafu nave; akin
   to D. navel, G. nabel, OHG. nabolo, Icel. nafli, Dan. navle,
   Sw. nafle, L. umbilicus, Gr. 'omfalo`s, Skr. n[=a]bh[imac]la.
   [root]260. See {Nave} hub, and cf. {Omphalic}, {Nombril},
   {Umbilical}.]
   1. (Anat.) A mark or depression in the middle of the abdomen;
      the umbilicus; called also {belly button} in humans. See
      {Umbilicus}.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The central part or point of anything; the middle.
      [1913 Webster]

            Within the navel of this hideous wood,
            Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells.
                                                  --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Gun.) An eye on the under side of a carronade for
      securing it to a carriage.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Navel gall}, a bruise on the top of the chine of the back of
      a horse, behind the saddle. --Johnson.

   {Navel point}. (Her.) Same as {Nombril}.
      [1913 Webster]
    

24 Moby Thesaurus words for "navel":
      axis, center, center of action, center of gravity, centroid,
      centrum, core, dead center, epicenter, heart, hub, kernel, marrow,
      medulla, metacenter, middle, nave, nub, nucleus, omphalos, pith,
      pivot, storm center, umbilicus