Definition of "nates"

nates

/ˈneɪtiːz/

noun
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.
  Quotations
  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.
  1963, Anthony Burgess, Inside Mr Enderby
  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.
  1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 3
3. (zoology) The umbones of a bivalve shell.