Mor*tal"i*ty (?), n. [L. mortalitas: cf. F.
mortalité.]
1. The condition or quality of
being mortal; subjection to death or to the necessity of dying.
When I saw her die,
I then
did think on your mortality.
Carew. 2. Human life; the life of a mortal being.
From this instant
There 's nothing serious in mortality.
Shak.
3. Those who are, or that which is, mortal; the human race; humanity; human nature.
Take these
tears, mortality's relief.
Pope. 4. Death; destruction.
Shak.
5. The whole sum or
number of deaths in a given time or a given community; also, the proportion of deaths to population, or to a specific number of the population; death rate; as, a time of great, or low,
mortality; the mortality among the settlers was alarming.
Bill
of mortality. See under Bill. -- Law of mortality, a mathematical relation between the numbers living at different ages, so that from a given large number of persons alive at one
age, it can
be computed what number are likely to survive a given number of years. -- Table of mortality, a table exhibiting the average relative number of persons who survive, or who have died, at the end of each year
of life, out
of a given number supposed to have been born at the same time.
Hear it pronounced