Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • A region of southeast Africa on the Indian Ocean. Originally home to Zulus and other Bantu peoples, the region was sighted by Vasco da Gama in 1497 and settled by British traders in 1823 and by the Boers after 1836. Annexed by the British to Cape Colony in 1843, Natal became a separate colony after 1856 and a founding province of South Africa in 1910.
  • A city of northeast Brazil on the Atlantic Ocean north of Recife. Founded in the late 1590s, it grew rapidly in World War II as a base for flights connecting with Africa.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A seaport and the state capital of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
  • proper noun A former British colony and province of South Africa. It is now called KwaZulu-Natal province.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Portuguese Natal ("Christmas"), because the region in South Africa was discovered by the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama on Christmas Day, 1497.

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Examples

  • Durban, the port of Natal, is one of our biggest bunkering ports, and next month there will be open in Natal a section of the railways about 200 miles long to be worked by electrification power.

    South Africa 1924

  • The general opinion seems to be that Microsoft's Natal is more useful to a wider audience than Sony's (I interviewed Sony about its motion control scheme and this idea of a core-versus-casual divide here).

    Archive 2009-06-01 SVGL 2009

  • But, personally, Natal is the only large-scale revelation that's really taken root in my mind.

    No Winners, No Losers SVGL 2009

  • My interest was most piqued by the Sony conference, mostly because I'm a lot less interested in Natal than other people.

    No Winners, No Losers SVGL 2009

  • I think Microsoft's Project Natal is easily more marketable and has a bigger "wow" factor that Sony's motion controller doesn't – because it's too similar to the Wii Remote.

    Party Crashin' SVGL 2009

  • Natal is just the start of ambitious plans Microsoft has for trailblazingNUI computing.

    Microsoft's Natal could launch age of NUI computing 2010

  • If Natal is as awesome as it is this is a FATALITY Blow on any wii stuff out there at the present and future times!

    EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - Some hands on with Project Natal 2009

  • The general opinion seems to be that Microsoft's Natal is more useful to a wider audience than Sony's (I interviewed Sony about its motion control scheme and this idea of a core-versus-casual divide here).

    Party Crashin' SVGL 2009

  • Natal is just a tool, and the really big responsibility lies on honest reviews, and if positive, then creative developers.

    EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - Some hands on with Project Natal 2009

  • Natal is a very different type of "motion controller."

    Party Crashin' SVGL 2009

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