Nativity

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Nativity \Na*tiv"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Nativies}. [F. nativit['e], L.
     nativitas. See {Native}, and cf. {Na["i]vet['e]}.]
     1. The coming into life or into the world; birth; also, the
        circumstances attending birth, as time, place, manner,
        etc. --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              I have served him from the hour of my nativity.
                                                    --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Thou hast left . . . the land of thy nativity.
                                                    --Ruth ii. 11.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              These in their dark nativity the deep
              Shall yield us, pregnant with infernal flame.
                                                    --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Fine Arts) (capitalized) A picture representing or
        symbolizing the early infancy of Christ. The simplest form
        is the babe in a rude cradle, and the heads of an ox and
        an ass to express the stable in which he was born.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Astrol.) A representation of the positions of the
        heavenly bodies as the moment of one's birth, supposed to
        indicate one's future destinies; a horoscope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {The Nativity}, the birth or birthday of Christ; Christmas
        day.
  
     {To cast one's nativity} or {To calculate one's nativity}
        (Astrol.), to find out and represent the position of the
        heavenly bodies at the time of one's birth.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  nativity
       n 1: the event of being born; "they celebrated the birth of their
            first child" [syn: {birth}, {nascency}, {nascence}]
            [ant: {death}]
       2: the theological doctrine that Jesus Christ had no human
          father; Christians believe that Jesus's birth fulfilled
          Old Testament prophecies and was attended by miracles; the
          Nativity is celebrated at Christmas [syn: {Virgin Birth}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  62 Moby Thesaurus words for "nativity":
     aboriginality, accouchement, aspect, astrodiagnosis, astrology,
     astromancy, autochthonousness, babyhood, beginnings, birth,
     birth throes, birthing, blessed event, childbearing, childbed,
     childbirth, childhood, confinement, cradle, delivery,
     freshman year, genesis, genethliac astrology, genethliacism,
     genethliacs, genethlialogy, giving birth, hatching, having a baby,
     horoscope, horoscopy, house, inception, inchoation, incipience,
     incipiency, incunabula, indigenousness, infancy, labor, mansion,
     multiparity, mundane astrology, mundane house, nascence, nascency,
     nationality, native-bornness, nativeness, nativism,
     natural astrology, origin, origination, parturition,
     planetary house, pregnancy, stargazing, the Nativity, the stork,
     travail, youth, zodiac