noun
- the navel; umbilicus.
- the central point.
- Greek Antiquity. a stone in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, thought to mark the center of the earth.
noun
- (in the ancient world) a sacred conical object, esp a stone. The most famous omphalos at Delphi was assumed to mark the centre of the earth
- the central point
- literary another word for navel
also omphalus, “sacred stone,” 1850, from Greek omphalos, literally “navel,” later also “hub” (as the central point), from PIE *ombh-alo-, from root *nobh-/*ombh- “navel” (see navel). The name of the rounded stone in the shrine at Delphi, regarded by the ancients as the center of the world. Related: Omphalic. n. pl. om•pha•li (-lī′)
- The navel.