NATIVITY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Nativity

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/nətˈɪvəti/ Listen

noun

Nativity n. (pl. nativies)

The coming into life or into the world; birth; also, the circumstances attending birth, as time, place, manner, etc. "I have served him from the hour of my nativity." "Thou hast left... the land of thy nativity." "These in their dark nativity the deep Shall yield us, pregnant with infernal flame."

(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.

(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.

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.

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Etymology of 'Nativity'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Nativity" Quotes from Famous Books

... the shepherd, in a tone which conveyed all his deep feeling. To him his "mistress" represented a material Providence. From her hand came all the simple necessaries of his life. From her, on the approaching nativity, would also come some things which were not necessaries, but infinitely more precious to the centenarian than such could be. On the nativity he would be sent, upon the gentlest mount his lady owned, to the mission service which he loved. Thereafter he would ride back ...

— Jessica, the Heiress • Evelyn Raymond

... small prophet, a prophet Who brings us unbounded returns: For he can prophesy With a wink OF his eye, Peep with security Into futurity, Sum up your history, Clear up a mystery, Humour proclivity For a nativity. With mirrors so magical, Tetrapods tragical, Bogies spectacular, Answers oracular, Facts astronomical, Solemn or comical, And, if you want it, he Makes a reduction on taking a quantity! Oh! If any one anything lacks, He'll find it all ready in stacks, If he'll only look in On the resident ...

— Songs of a Savoyard • W. S. Gilbert

... while retaining the same breadth and freedom of general effect. "The Annunciation," with its beautiful perspective, is one of his best compositions of this subject, in which he is always so successful. "The Nativity" recalls that of the Uffizi predella; "The Adoration of the Magi" is a fine rendering of the scene, but the two last are the most interesting as well as being the best in workmanship. In "The Flight into Egypt" the ...

— Luca Signorelli • Maud Cruttwell

... yellow corn on the mountain where the fogs meet. The corn conceived, the white corn giving birth to Hasjelti and the yellow corn to Hostjoghon. These two became the great song-makers of the world. They gave to the mountain of their nativity (Henry Mountain in Utah) two songs and two prayers; they then went to Sierra Blanca (Colorado) and made two songs and prayers and dressed the mountain in clothing of white shell with two eagle plumes placed upright upon the ...

— Ceremonial of Hasjelti Dailjis and Mythical Sand Painting of the - Navajo Indians • James Stevenson

... excellent Philosopher and Astronomer Sir George Wharton Baronet: giving an account of all Fasts and Festivals, Observations in keeping Easter; Apotelesina, or the Nativity of the World of the Epochae and Erae used by Chronologers: A Discourse of Years, Months, and days of years; of Eclipses and Effects of the Crises in Diseases: With an excellent discourse of the names, Genus, ...

— The accomplisht cook - or, The art & mystery of cookery • Robert May

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