Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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.
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.
Source : WordNet®
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}]