Fair Value Measurements - Schedule of Assets and Liabilities Measured at Fair Value on Recurring Basis (Parenthetical) (Detail)	12 Months Ended
Oct. 31, 2013
Fair Value Disclosures [Abstract]
Executive officers and other highly compensated employees salary and annual cash incentive compensation deferrals percentage, maximum	100.00%
Executive officers long-term incentive compensation deferrals percentage, maximum	90.00%

Deferred compensation arrangement with individual employee contribution percentage of long term incentive compensation maximum.

No definition available.

Name:	ndsn_DeferredCompensationArrangementWithIndividualEmployeeContributionPercentageOfLongTermIncentiveCompensationMaximum
Namespace Prefix:	ndsn_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration