Na*tiv"i*ty (?), n.;
pl. Nativies (#). [F.
nativité, L. nativitas. See Native, and cf. NaïvetÉ.]
1. The coming into life or
into the world; birth; also, the circumstances attending
birth, as time, place, manner, etc. Chaucer.
I have served him from the
hour of my
nativity.
Shak.
Thou hast left . . . the land of thy
nativity.
Ruth ii. 11. These in their dark nativity the deep
Shall yield us, pregnant with infernal flame.
Milton. 2. (Fine
Arts) 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.
3.
(Astrol.) A representation of the positions of the heavenly bodies as the moment
of one's birth, supposed to indicate his future destinies; a horoscope.
The
Nativity, the birth or birthday of Christ; Christmas day. -- To cast, or calculate, one's nativity (Astrol.),
to find out and represent the position of the heavenly bodies at the time of one's birth.
Hear it pronounced