normaladj.n.
/ˈnɔːml/, U.S. /ˈnɔrm(ə)l/ A. adj.
I. General uses.† 2. Having the function of prescribing a course of action or way of living; prescriptive. Obsolete.
1.
a. Constituting or conforming to a type or standard; regular, usual, typical; ordinary, conventional. (The usual sense.)In early use spec.: according to rule. N.E.D. (1907) notes ‘Common since c1840.’
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the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > conformity to or with a pattern, etc. > [adjective] > conforming to a standard rule > standard
canonical1553
canonial1589
normal1598
standard1603
legitimate1615
classic1648
legitime1651
classical1751
canonic1850
normative1852
the world > action or operation > behaviour > customary or habitual mode of behaviour > [adjective] > usual or ordinary
commona1325
naturalc1390
ordinarc1400
ordinary?a1425
ilk-day's1488
naturely?c1510
famous1528
familiar1533
vulgar1553
workaday1554
modern1591
tralatitious1653
commonish1792
workday1808
everyday1813
bread and butter1822
normal1843
common-seeming1857
tralatician1893
wake-a-day1893
1598 [implied in: A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. 50/2 Thervnto are many thinges reqvired, which I heere normallye and rightlye will prosecute. (at normally adv. 1)].
1706 Eng. Scholar Compl. 90/2 Normal, exact, according to Rule.
1825 Zool. Jrnl. 1 405 These three states of genital products require three distinct situations, which in the normal mammifera, are found within the sexual canal.
1828 J. Stark Elements Nat. Hist. II. 216 Two superior groups, which he denominates normal or typical.
1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xii. 135 Temperature of the body normal.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. vii. 54 The veining, whose normal direction would be transverse to the glacier.
1881 A. Flint Treat. Princ. Med. (ed. 5) 781 In acute neuritis the nerves are swollen, reddened, and more succulent than normal.
1904 J. London Sea-wolf xxxvi. 338 I took his pulse. It beat steadily and strong, and was quite normal.
1932 E. Waugh Black Mischief iv. 153 Two mail ships..paused for their normal six hours in the little bay.
1949 ‘G. Orwell’ Nineteen Eighty-four ii. iv. 145 He wondered vaguely whether in the abolished past it had been a normal experience to lie in bed like this.
1963 S. Plath Bell Jar xii. 148 What bothered me was that everything about the house seemed normal, although I knew it must be chock-full of crazy people.
1995 C. Bateman Cycle of Violence iv. 64 Screaming and getting on like that, it isn't normal.
b. Of a person: physically and mentally sound; free from any disorder; healthy.
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1886 D. MacAlister tr. E. Ziegler Text-bk. Pathol. Anat. III. ix. xcii. 231 When it [sc. the cerebrum] fails to reach the minimum size met with in normal persons the condition is known as micrencephalia.
1914 J. Joyce Dubliners xi The injuries were not sufficient to have caused death in a normal person.
1938 Amer. Home Oct. 81/2 You arrive home not still all buzzed-up with the day's events, or too tired to think, but a comparatively normal person.
1976 Lancet 6 Nov. 1031/1 We have looked for differences in the mono-oxidation of phenylalanine between plasma (or serum) from normal persons and patients with p.k.u.
1994 Amer. Spectator Sept. 60/2 A slight discomfort or slight ailment that wouldn't disturb the normal person at all, to him was of enormous proportions.
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1644 N. Rogers Let. Gods continuing Wrath 9 If you..preferre the wisedome and authority of his word therein above civill policie, humane reason, yea universality or antiquity of any practise since the first & normall patterne prescribed in the doctrine, & recorded in the history of the sacred Scriptures.
1679 tr. J. Salgado Romish Priest turn'd Protestant 15 Hence doth flow, that the Scriptures may be justly called a Judg; not proclaiming outwardly the sentence, but deciding the question as a Law, and so it may be called a judex normalis, a normal Judg.
1763 W. Crookshank tr. H. Witsius Oeconomy of Covenants (new ed.) III. iv. 72 As to its normal relation, or as it is the rule of life and manners, it [sc. the Decalogue] was not even for a moment abrogated or abolished by Christ.
3. Of, relating to, or intended for the training of teachers, esp. in Continental Europe and North America. Chiefly in normal school. Now historical.In North America, normal schools were for training primary school teachers. In Continental Europe, different normal schools also trained teachers at secondary and tertiary levels.
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society > education > place of education > college or university > [noun] > college > teacher training college
normal school1797
training college1839
normal1887
teacher-factory1889
1797 ‘English Lady’ Resid. in France II. 286 At the opening of the Normal schools.
1826 C. Anderson Let. 29 Aug. in H. Anderson Life & Lett. C. Anderson (1854) viii. 276 Colonel Abrahamson..has been with us all this afternoon, and has shewn us the Normal School, the institution for the deaf and dumb, and the lithographic press.
1834 Edinb. Rev. July 491 The system of Primary Schools, which the French..have..denominated Normal.
1857 Illinois House Jrnl. 17 Feb. 970 Senate bill for ‘An act for the establishment and maintenance of a normal university’ was taken up... There shall be established in said university..a normal college for the education of teachers of common schools.
1888 Nat. Educ. Assoc. U.S. Addr. & Proc. 1887 502 A course of normal instruction.
1939 H. G. Wells Holy Terror iv. i. 359 An increasing number of women are taking up professions now; at architecture, catering, various industries, normal teaching..they are practically as good as men or better.
1960 S. J. Curtis & M. E. A. Boultwood Introd. Hist. Eng. Educ. xii. 278 The Normal School of Design became the Royal College of Art in 1896.
1993 Beaver Oct. 43/1 She graduated from the high school at Winkler, Manitoba in 1921 and attended Normal School at Manitou, Manitoba, until 1922.
4. Heterosexual. Cf. sense B. 6.
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the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual orientation > heterosexuality > [adjective] > heterosexual
heterosex1913
normal1914
heterosexual1927
jam1930
hetero1933
het1939
straight1941
non-homosexual1942
hetero1949
1914 E. M. Forster Maurice (1971) xxii. 106 Against my will I have become normal. I cannot help it.
1972 T. Keneally Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith v. 38 Of course, Jimmie knew, Farrell was not normal and had once begun to caress him.
1990 Lesbian & Gay Pride 11/4 Back west in a long standing ‘normal’ society like old Blighty, many lesbian or gay teachers go in fear of exposure.
II. Technical uses.
5.
a. Right-angled, rectangular. rare.Blount Glossogr. (1656) gives ‘Normal, right by rule, made by the square or Rule’. This was placed by N.E.D. at sense A. 1a, but it seems more likely to belong either here or at sense A. 5b.
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the world > space > shape > angularity > [adjective] > constituting an angle > right
square1551
normal1650
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > angle > [adjective] > right-angled
square1551
orthogonal?a1560
rectangled1570
normal1650
orthogonial1660
rectangulate1852
1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 55 Those determined bounds of the hair, which are called by our Barbars the Normal Angels.
1901 L. M. Waterhouse Conduit Wiring 53 The angle not being suited to either a right angled (normal) or half-normal bend.
b. Standing, positioned, or directed at right angles (to); perpendicular (to).
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the world > space > relative position > position at right angles to something > [adjective]
perpendicularc1475
square?a1560
direct1563
rectangular1646
upright1678
orthogonal1694
normal1704
right-angled1802
cathetal1874
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > angle > [adjective] > right-angled > at right angles
square?a1560
rectangular1646
orthogonal1694
normal1704
orthotomic1857
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I Normal, the same with Perpendicular, or at Right Angles, and 'tis usually spoken of a Line or a Plane that Intersects another Perpendicularly.
1705 E. Scarburgh Eng. Euclide 15 To which therefore It is said to be a Normal Line.
1858 J. F. W. Herschel Outl. Astron. (ed. 5) xiii. 474 The changes of excentricity emergent..from the action of the normal force.
1879 S. Newcomb & E. S. Holden Astron. for Schools & Coll. 203 The line ZN′, perpendicular to HR, and therefore normal to the earth at Q.
1935 C. J. Smith Intermediate Physics (ed. 2) v. xli. 689 The plane of this mirror is normal to the axis of the magnet.
1954 J. F. Kirkaldy Gen. Princ. Geol. xi. 144 When using such a contact goniometer, place it normal to the edge to be measured.
1992 RS Components: Electronic & Electr. Products July 902/3 Contacts are designed with high normal forces for reliable mating with standard J leg chip carriers.
6. Chemistry.
a. Of a solution: having one gram-equivalent of solute or solvated ion per litre of solution. Of a concentration: expressed in terms of these quantities. Symbol N. Cf. molar adj.4 2.
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the world > matter > chemistry > physical chemistry > solutions > [adjective] > concentration > of or relating to a concentration
N1863
normal1987
1850 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 140 30 It would be easier and more accurate to determine this and other chlorides by the use of a normal solution of nitrate of silver.
1863 F. Sutton Syst. Handbk. Volumetric Anal. 19 The normal solutions prepared on the gramme system are equally applicable for that of the grain, and vice versâ.
1915 P. W. Oscroft Adv. Inorg. Chem. v. 48 25 c.c. of a caustic potash solution required 15 c.c. of a normal sulphuric acid solution for neutralization.
1940 G. H. J. Adlam & L. S. Price Higher School Certificate Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) xiii. 82 This is a platinum plate or wire, immersed in a normal solution of an acid.
1967 R. Fulton Course in Titrimetric Anal. ii. 7 Normal solutions are more widely used [than molar solutions].
1987 K. A. Rubinson Chem. Anal. i. 13 A one-molar sulfuric acid solution contains two equivalents of protons and thus is two normal.
b. Of a salt: containing no acidic hydrogen.
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the world > matter > chemistry > chemical substances > salts > [adjective] > containing no acidic hydrogen
normal1860
1860 W. A. Miller Elements Chem. (ed. 2) I. x. 338 The most usual form of salt, in which 1 atom of a protoxide is united with 1 atom of an acid to form the normal salt.
1890 Proc. Royal Soc. 1889 46 83 The temperature had been attained at which the normal salt began to undergo decomposition.
1915 P. W. Oscroft Adv. Inorg. Chem. iv. 38 It must not be understood that normal salts are always neutral bodies with regard to their action with litmus; this is far from being the case.
1938 R. Hum Chem. for Engin. Students xi. 220 If a larger proportion of sodium chloride and higher temperature is used, the normal sulphate, Na2SO4, is formed, instead of the acid sulphate, NaHSO4.
1992 W. H. Brock Fontana Hist. Chem. iv. 145 For the same amount of acid in the normal and acid oxalates of potash and strontia, there was double the amount of base in the acid oxalates.
c. Containing an unbranched chain of carbon atoms in an alkane molecule or alkyl radical; composed of such molecules. Symbol N.
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the world > matter > chemistry > organic chemistry > [adjective] > organic structure > carbon chain
normal1869
N1889
1866 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 156 345 For acids of this division containing normal alcohol radicals only, the following general graphic formula may be given.]
1869 C. Schorlemmer in Proc. Royal Soc. 17 373 I had obtained the normal propyl alcohol by this method.
1871 C. Schorlemmer in Proc. Royal Soc. 19 487 The first group, which I called normal paraffins, contain the carbon atoms linked together in a single chain.
1932 I. D. Garard Introd. Org. Chem. ii. 20 At average room temperature, those normal paraffin hydrocarbons containing four carbon atoms or less are gaseous.
1968 J. A. Monick Alcohols iii. 86 If the [parent] hydrocarbon consists of an unbranched carbon chain, the equivalent primary alcohol is called normal.
1992 Industr. & Engin. Chem. Res. 31 42/2 Table II shows the fraction of the products..appearing as olefins, branched species, and normal alkanes.
7. Physics. Of, relating to, or designating a mode of vibration in which every particle executes simple harmonic motion at the same frequency and in phase (or 180 degrees out of phase).
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the world > matter > physics > mechanics > types of motion > [adjective] > types of vibration
normal1867
resonant1944
resonating1974
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > alternating or reciprocating motion > oscillation > [adjective] > in simple harmonic motion
normal1867
proper1873
1867 W. Thomson & P. G. Tait Treat. Nat. Philos. I. ii. 274 There are in general..i distinct determinate displacements, which we shall call the normal displacements, fulfilling the condition, that if any one of them be produced alone, and the system then left to itself for an instant at rest, this displacement will diminish and increase periodically according to a simple harmonic function of the time, and consequently every particle of the system will execute a simple harmonic movement in the same period.
1877 Ld. Rayleigh Theory of Sound I. vi. 141 When a string vibrates in its gravest normal mode, the excursion is at any moment proportional to sin πx/l.
1927 L. Toft & A. T. J. Kersey Theory of Machines xiv. 362 Any type of oscillation other than a normal mode may be considered as being the sum of a number of motions each of which is a normal mode.
1942 J. L. Synge & B. A. Griffith Princ. Mech. vii. 209 The periods and frequencies of normal modes are called normal periods and normal frequencies.
1962 P. J. Durrant & B. Durrant Introd. Adv. Inorg. Chem. viii. 229 There may be several normal vibrations of different frequencies characteristic of a given molecule.
1992 S. P. Maran Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 876/2 These standing waves or normal modes of oscillation are quite remarkable and form the basis of the new science of stellar seismology.
8. Geology. Designating a fault or faulting in which the relative downward movement occurred in the strata situated on the upper side of the fault plane. Cf. reverse fault n. at reverse adj. and adv. Compounds 2.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > discontinuity or unconformity > [adjective] > types of fault
normal1876
obsequent1913
sinistral1942
transcurrent1942
thrust-faulted1980
1876 A. H. Green Geol. for Students: Physical Geol. xi. 382 The direction of the hade in a normal fault.
1902 Jrnl. Geol. (Chicago) 10 873 Orographic blocks may..display an arrangement in zigzags or en échelon, which it is difficult to explain upon any other basis than that of normal faulting.
1944 A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. vi. 79 Normal faults involve an extension of the faulted beds.
1974 R. F. Flint & B. J. Skinner Physical Geol. iv. 294/1 In the Earth's crust are many zones that have been deformed repeatedly by normal faulting.
1990 N.Y. Times 9 Oct. c6/5 Researchers..have recently found evidence that other regions of the plate are pulling apart, forming cracks and what are known as normal faults.
9. Biology and Medicine. Of a saline solution: containing that amount of sodium chloride and (in later use) other salts that renders it isotonic with blood and living tissue. Cf. physiological adj. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines of specific form > solution > [adjective] > attributes of saline solutions
normal1878
physiological1896
1878 J. Priestley in Proc. Royal Soc. 27 139 The other electrode, well moistened with normal saline solution, was introduced at the window so made.
1895 Jrnl. Physiol. 18 50 Neither can the injection of normal saline be of much benefit.
1924 L. Clendening Mod. Methods Treatm. ii. 153 In normal salt solution with glucose any concentration could be used, without hemolysis.
1970 F. N. Douglas Essent. Pharmacol. in Clin. Nursing iii. 22 Physiologic normal saline (0·9 per cent) is used for treating dehydration in the absence of acidosis.
1990 Jrnl. Developmental Physiol. 14 69/2 Anesthesia..was maintained with a solution of 10% ketamine in normal saline.
10. Statistics. = Gaussian adj. b.
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the world > relative properties > number > probability or statistics > [adjective] > relating to distribution > normal
normal1885
Gaussian1905
1877 F. Galton in Proc. Royal Inst. 9 Feb. 297 It [sc. a distribution] is perfectly normal in shape.]
1885 F. Galton in Jubilee Vol. Statist. Soc. 265 (heading) Normal curve of distribution of error.
1897 Proc. Royal Soc. 62 176 A random selection from a normal distribution.
1920 Biometrika 13 10 To get the Gaussian or normal curve we must..replace differences by differentials and we have (dy/dx)/y = −x/σ02.
1928 T. C. Fry Probability & its Engin. Uses viii. 244 Both the Binomial and the Poisson Laws, under suitable conditions, approach the Normal Law as a limit.
1938 A. E. Waugh Elements Statist. Method vi. 94 Many phenomena of biology, economics, psychology, education, etc., even though not exactly normal in distribution, can be described roughly by the normal curve.
1951 W. J. Dixon & F. J. Massey Introd. Statistical Anal. v. 63 Many practical problems have statistical answers based on the ‘assumption’ that the distribution of the population is normal.
1997 New Scientist 19 Apr. 39/2 In the normal distribution, negative price swings of a given amount are just as likely to occur.
11. Mathematics. Of a subgroup: having the property that for any elements h in the subgroup and g in the group, the product ghg−1 is in the subgroup.
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1908 H. Hilton Introd. Theory Groups Finite Order v. 62 If every element of G transforms a subgroup H into itself, H is called a normal, self-conjugate, or invariant subgroup of G.
1940 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 47 393 A group may be termed soluble, if it may be swept out by an ascending (finite or transfinite) chain of normal subgroups such that the quotient groups of its consecutive terms are abelian groups of finite rank.
1971 M. B. Powell & G. Higman Finite Simple Groups ii. 72 An abelian p-subgroup A of X with A normal in a Sylow p-subgroup P of X.
1990 Glasgow Math. Jrnl. 32 266 The form of this proof is fairly typical. One reduces to the case where an automorphism operates trivially first on a quotient group, and then on the associated normal subgroup.
12. Mathematics. Of a mathematical expression, function, etc.: that has been normalized (normalize v. 2a).
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1915 E. T. Whittaker & G. N. Watson Course Mod. Anal. (ed. 2) xi. 218 We shall now show how to construct the function ϕm such that ϕ1,..ϕm are all normal and orthogonal.
1959 G. James & R. C. James Math. Dict. (ed. 2) 275/2 Real functions f1(x), f2(x),… are said to be orthogonal on the range (a, b) if ∫abfn(x)fm(x)dx = 0, for m ≠ n, and to be normal, or normalized,..if also ∫ab[fn(x)]2dx = 1 for all n.
1989 W. Gellert et al. VNR Conc. Encycl. Math. (ed. 2) iv. 83 An algebraic equation of degree n with one variable and with the highest coefficient an = 1 is said to be monic or in normal form.
13. Physics.
a. Relating to or characteristic of a superconducting substance that is not in the superconducting state. Frequently in normal state.
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the world > matter > physics > solid state physics > superconductivity > [adjective] > not in superconducting state
normal1927
quenched1946
Peierls1969
1927 Nature 3 Dec. 818/2 The resistance became normal at a certain critical value of the magnetic field.
1938 D. Shoenberg Superconductivity i. 4 Apart from the loss of resistance the metal appeared to have identical properties both in the superconducting and normal states.
1955 H. B. G. Casimir in W. Pauli Niels Bohr & Devel. Physics 119 The theory describing the normal state when the absolute temperature tends towards zero is extremely simple.
1978 H. M. Rosenberg Solid State (ed. 2) xiv. 241 When Bext reaches ½Bc the field at AA′ attains the critical value and parts of the specimen will go normal.
1993 Nature 7 Jan. 54/1 The superconducting transition temperature, Tc, defines the point at which the free energies of the superconducting and normal states of a material become equal.
b. Designating a component of a superfluid that is regarded as not having the properties of a superfluid and as coexisting at the atomic level with a component that does have them, in a proportion that decreases with decreasing temperature.
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the world > matter > physics > mechanics > dynamics > fluid dynamics > [adjective] > relating to or exhibiting superfluidity > specific properties or phenomena
mechanocaloric1939
normal1941
1941 L. Landau in Physical Rev. 60 357/2 We might regard liquid helium as if it consisted of a ‘mixture’ of two liquids—one is ‘superfluid’ without viscosity..and the other is ‘normal’.
1947 Physical Rev. 62 853/2 In this ‘anomalous’ region [sc. between about 1°K and 2·19°K] the liquid is a mixture of a normal component (like helium I) and a superfluid component.
1975 Nature 10 Apr. 480/3 The superfluid phase [of 4He] behaves like a mixture of two fluids: a ‘normal’ component, behaving like an ordinary viscous liquid..; and a ‘superfluid’ component.
1998 Science 22 May 1213/1 In Andreev scattering, when a quasiparticle hits a boundary between superconductor (or superfluid) and normal material (nonsuperconductor or nonsuperfluid) it is converted into a quasihole.
14. Mathematics. Of a number: having a decimal expansion in which all ten digits, and all sequences of digits of the same length, occur with equal frequency.
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1931 Amer. Jrnl. Math. 53 153 The nombres normaux of Borel are members of the set, A(1/2). Tha is, the set of admissible numbers includes the set of normal numbers as a sub set.
1966 J. H. Cadwell Topics in Recreational Math. xiv. 154 It is not yet known if π is a normal number.
1979 Sci. Amer. Nov. 24/2 So far none of the individual classic irrational numbers has been proved normal.
1994 Economist 19 Nov. 120/1 A ‘normal number’: all possible strings of digits of a given length reappear in it with exactly the same frequency.
B. n.
1. A perpendicular line; a straight line that is at right angles to another line, a tangent to a curve, or a tangent plane to curved surface.
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the world > relative properties > number > geometry > line > [noun] > perpendicular
plumb line1551
normal1728
binormal1848
1704 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 24 1609 The Normales to a right Line and a Circle erected as above..are ad Locum planum.]
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Subnormal The point in the Axis of a Curve, where a Normal or Perpendicular..cuts the Axis.
1798 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 88 381 The lines so drawn..shall be normals to the parabolas at their intersections with the ellipse.
1816 tr. S. F. Lacroix Elem. Treat. Differential & Integral Calculus 81 It is often more convenient..to consider the tangent and the normal, by means of their equation.
1879 W. Thomson & P. G. Tait Treat. Nat. Philos. (new ed.) I: Pt. i. §136 The area enclosed on a spherical surface of unit radius by a straight line drawn from its centre, parallel to a normal to the surface.
1946 L. Toft & A. T. J. Kersey Theory of Machines (ed. 5) ix. 259 The direction of the common normal, at the point of contact of involute teeth, is constant for the whole duration of contact.
1981 M. A. Parker & F. Pickup Engin. Drawing (ed. 3) iii. 79 The normal is perpendicular to the tangent at the point of contact.
1993 New Scientist 3 July 23/2 At the moment we do not own any of the mathematics that allows us to understand surfaces for which the normal is varying in a more peculiar way.
2. Meteorology. An average, a mean. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > condition of being mean or average > [noun] > average
par1776
average1802
mean1803
normal1859
1859 A. D. Bache Discuss. Magn. & Meteorol. Observ. i. 4 The last mean thus obtained for each observing hour and each month has been called ‘the normal’.
1890 Nature 9 Oct. 603 The barometer normals fall more as we approach the Antarctic.
1993 Canad. Geographic May 20/1 In early 1993, Environment Canada completed a new set of normals for 1,600 weather stations across the country.
3. A normal variety of something; esp. a sound, healthy, or unimpaired person.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > conformity to or with a pattern, etc. > [noun] > conformity to rule > quality or state of being normal > a normal variety of anything
normal1862
the world > health and disease > [noun] > good health > person
wholeOE
well1659
able-bodied1717
valid1882
normal1894
well-woman1941
normotensive1953
abled1960
1862 Atlantic Monthly Mar. 389 Your Normal schools wun't turn ye into Normals, for it's clear, Ef eddykatin' done the thing, they'd be some skurcer here.
1894 W. Bateson Materials Study Variation 17 For the belief that such races are descended from the putative normal scarcely ever rests on proof.
1908 Daily Chron. 14 Oct. 4/4 We might divide them [sc. criminals] into three groups:—Normals, Juveniles and children; and The degenerate.
1916 J. S. Haldane Organism & Environment (1917) iv. 102 The normals of anatomy are not mere physical structures, nor are the normals of physiology mere averages: they are manifestations of the life of an organism regarded as a whole.
1940 Psychol. Bull. 37 425 Scales may be successively discovered and standardized on a reservoir sample of normals.
1964 M. Critchley Developmental Dyslexia vii. 40 Measuring the reaction time..in normals and in dyslexics.
1996 Ability Network Spring 26/1 A staff of normals would reside there permanently and tourists could watch in awe as the handicaps are turned over and repositioned as needed.
4. † b. A normal temperature. Obsolete. rare.
a. The usual or typical state, condition, or value.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > customary or habitual mode of behaviour > [noun] > usual course, condition, etc.
ordinary1591
normal1875
1875 H. C. Wood Treat. Therapeutics (1879) 650 Whenever the bodily temperature falls below normal, pyretic treatment is demanded.
1890 Daily News 11 Oct. 5/4 It does not require a very strong gale to..raise the level of the Neva three or four feet above its normal.
1918 W. L. Cowley & H. Levy Aeronautics viii. 163 When the aeroplane is just smoothing out from a steep dive..the loading rapidly attains a value which in practice is several times its normal.
1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 605/1 Damage caused by an excess voltage, i.e. a voltage above normal.
1966 L. MacNeice Coll. Poems (1979) 304 We are back to daylight When men and plants drink deep. Back to normal; the ghosts in the pinetrees Have dwindled to lizards.
1998 Meat Trades Jrnl. 13 May 18/1 The systems are designed to continuously monitor critical storage and processing temperatures and warn of any deviation from the normal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > [noun] > normal
normal1896
1896 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. I. 149 The dictum..that in fever the organism is adjusted to a higher normal.
5. A normal school. Cf. sense A. 3. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > place of education > college or university > [noun] > college > teacher training college
normal school1797
training college1839
normal1887
teacher-factory1889
1887 Amer. Naturalist 21 1124 W. Edgar Taylor, State Normal, Peru, Neb.
1896 Overland Monthly Aug. 223 Few know how many enter the Normals only to be speedily impressed with the fact that they lack either mental ability to do the work, or the peculiar qualifications necessary to a teacher.
1925 in P. W. Slosson Great Crusade (1931) xv. 431 Unlawful for any teacher in any of the universities, normals, and all other public schools..to teach..that man has descended from a lower order of animals.
1961 D. Rogers Oswego 4 At least ten other normals appeared in the years prior to Oswego's founding and an equal number had the name, if not all the functions, of a normal school.
1995 P. Gleason Contending with Modernity 87 The Third Plenary Council of Baltimore..encouraged the holding of ‘normals’, or teachertraining sessions, by various communities of sisters.
6. A heterosexual person. Cf. sense A. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual orientation > heterosexuality > [noun] > person
heterosexual1892
normal1910
hetero1940
non-homosexual1960
straight1967
het1971
breeder1975
1910 A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Three Contrib. to Sexual Theory i. 20 The tendency to linger at this intermediary sexual aim..is found to a certain degree in most normals [Ger. Normalen].
1932 Brevities (N.Y.) 5 Dec. 10/1 For..the army of pathological unfortunates to whom are given the titles of faggot, fairy, queer, and prince,..money counts for little when one must continually dodge the wrath of smug normals.
1966 New Statesman 29 Apr. 623/3 He's [sc. Noel Coward] working for the same kind of audience—Knightsbridge normals—and still going as near the knuckle as he thinks they can abide.
1971 M. McCarthy Birds of Amer. 304 A female clocharde had reason to shrink from ‘normals’.
1997 Jrnl. Homosexuality 34 95 To rely centrally on a claim that gays just can't help themselves is a strategy that lends itself to apologetics... If he can't be normal, he can at least prove his value by being useful to normals.
2000 S. A. Jones & M. A. Yarhouse in D. L. Balch Homosexuality, Sci., & plain Sense of Script. 102 There is a long research tradition of investigating the possibility that male and female homosexuals have abnormal levels of certain sex hormones compared to normals.
Compounds
normal-faulted adj. Geology characterized by normal faulting (cf. sense A. 8).
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1975 Nature 1 May 22/2 This part represents a tensional arm..bifurcating into normal-faulted shear zones south of Sinai.
1997 Canad. Mineralogist 35 1173 Slices of granulite- and amphibolite-facies rocks overlie high-P metamorphosed rocks of the Manicouagan Imbricate Zone in normal-faulted contact.
normal forest n. a collection of trees at various stages of development, organized to provide a regular yield of timber.
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1928 R. S. Troup Silvicultural Syst. i. 1 With the object of ensuring future sustained yields the ideal of the normal forest has been created. Such a forest contains a regular and complete succession of age-classes..in correct proportion, density, and distribution.
1996 Ecol. Modelling 92 245 Results concerning under which conditions a forest will asymptotically converge towards the normal forest.
normal form n. Philosophy a standard structure or format in which all propositions in a (usually symbolic) language can be expressed, and to which other forms can be reduced.
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1948 Mind 57 173 He [sc. Boole] introduced two notions which are of the greatest importance, namely, that of a truth-function and that of a normal form.
1950 L. M. Hammond et al. tr. D. Hilbert & W. Ackermann Princ. Math. Logic i. §3. 12 Any combination of sentences can be brought into a certain normal form by means of equivalence transformations.
1996 S. Blackburn Oxf. Dict. Philos. 265/1 A well-formed formula of the propositional calculus is in conjunctive normal form when it is of the form A & B &..where each of A, B..is a formula consisting of a disjunction of atomic propositions.
normal science n. science that is considered standard or normative; science that works within the prevailing paradigms of its time and uses generally accepted methods.
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1899 Mind 8 317 We include here both the will which attains to expression in a normal legislation, and that which attains expression in a normal science.
1962 T. S. Kuhn Struct. Sci. Revolutions ii. 10 ‘Normal science’ means research firmly based upon one or more past scientific achievements..that some particular scientific community acnowledges for a time as supplying the foundation for its further practice.
1998 Nature 13 Aug. 633/2 Principe sees alchemy as part of the ‘normal science’ of the seventeenth century, and The Sceptical Chymist as an attack only on vulgar alchemists.
normal state n. Physics (a) = ground state n. at ground n. Compounds 2a; (b) see sense A. 13a.
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1914 N. Bohr in London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 6th Ser. 27 509 For n = 1, corresponding to the normal state of the atom, we get [etc.].
1952 R. W. Ditchburn Light xvii. 550 The atom very quickly makes a transition back to the normal state re-emitting the radiation.
1989 A. C. Davies Sci. & Pract. Welding (ed. 9) I. i. 2 An atom in its normal state is electrically neutral.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1598