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Income Taxes - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)
In Thousands, unless otherwise specified
 3 Months Ended 12 Months Ended
Jan. 31, 2013
Oct. 31, 2014
Oct. 31, 2013
Oct. 31, 2012
Oct. 31, 2011
Income Tax [Line Items]          
Earnings before income taxes of domestic operations   $ 184,894us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesDomestic $ 164,702us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesDomestic $ 177,035us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesDomestic  
Unrecognized tax benefits 900us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsReductionsResultingFromLapseOfApplicableStatuteOfLimitations 310us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsReductionsResultingFromLapseOfApplicableStatuteOfLimitations 1,070us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsReductionsResultingFromLapseOfApplicableStatuteOfLimitations 480us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsReductionsResultingFromLapseOfApplicableStatuteOfLimitations  
Additional tax benefit relating to retroactive reinstatement of research credit 1,700ndsn_AdditionalTaxBenefitRelatingToRetroactiveReinstatementOfResearchCredit   1,700ndsn_AdditionalTaxBenefitRelatingToRetroactiveReinstatementOfResearchCredit    
Income tax expense benefit related to the utilization of loss carryforwards       2,717ndsn_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefitRelatedToUtilizationOfLossCarryforwards  
Earnings before income taxes of international operations   167,619us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesForeign 146,421us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesForeign 149,218us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesForeign  
Undistributed earnings aggregated   622,914us-gaap_UndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiaries 510,842us-gaap_UndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiaries    
Total unrecognized tax benefits   5,812us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits 5,717us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits 3,140us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits 2,576us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits
Total unrecognized tax benefits impact the effective tax rate   5,175us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsThatWouldImpactEffectiveTaxRate 5,178us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsThatWouldImpactEffectiveTaxRate    
Accrued interest expense related to unrecognized tax benefits   2,025us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsInterestOnIncomeTaxesAccrued 1,085us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsInterestOnIncomeTaxesAccrued    
Tax credit carryforwards   4,161us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAmount      
Tax credit carryforwards which will expire in 2014 through 2017   161ndsn_TaxCreditCarryforwardExpirationAmount      
Indefinite tax credit carryforward amount   4,000ndsn_IndefiniteTaxCreditCarryforwardAmount      
Operating loss carryforwards   70,084us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards      
Indefinite carryforward period   13,007us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsOperatingLossCarryforwardsNotSubjectToExpiration      
Net change in the valuation allowance   2,009us-gaap_ValuationAllowanceDeferredTaxAssetChangeInAmount 617us-gaap_ValuationAllowanceDeferredTaxAssetChangeInAmount    
Valuation allowance relates to tax credits and loss carryforwards   7,672us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardValuationAllowance      
Foreign [Member]          
Income Tax [Line Items]          
Unrecognized tax benefits     900us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsReductionsResultingFromLapseOfApplicableStatuteOfLimitations
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_ForeignCountryMember		    
Operating loss carryforwards   13,213us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_ForeignCountryMember		      
Federal [Member]          
Income Tax [Line Items]          
Operating loss carryforwards   19,535us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_DomesticCountryMember		      
State [Member]          
Income Tax [Line Items]          
Operating loss carryforwards   $ 50,343us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_StateAndLocalJurisdictionMember