Definition of "nativity" in 英语

noun

1. (now dated) Someone's birth; the place, time and circumstances of a birth.

   • 1483, William Caxton, Prologue to The Golden Legend, The Holbein Society’s Fac-simile Reprints, London: The Holbein Society, 1878, […] me semeth to be a souerayn wele to Incyte & exhorte men & wymmen to kepe them from slouthe & ydlenesse & to lete to be vnderstonden to suche peple as been not lettered the natyuytees, lyues, the passyons, the myracles and the dethe of the holy saynts […]

2. (astrology) Someone's birth considered as a means of astrology; a horoscope associated with a person's birth.

3. (also with capital initial) The birth of Jesus.

4. (Christianity, also with capital initial) The festival celebrating the birth of Jesus, Christmas Day; the festival celebrating the birth of the Virgin Mary or the birth of Saint John the Baptist.

   • 1624, will of Edmond Heywood of the parish of Christchurch London, cited in Katharine Lee Bates, “A Conjecture as to Thomas Heywood’s Family,” The Journal of English and German Philology, Volume 12, 1913, p. 96, Alsoe I give to the poore of the parish of Christchurch The some of Sixe poundes to be disposed of in this sorte that is to saie, three poundes thereof in Bread on the daie of my funeralle and the other three poundes in bread alsoe on the feast of the Nativitie of our lord then next followinge […]

5. (also with capital initial) A set of figurines used to create a nativity scene.

6. (figuratively) Origin; founding.

   • 1754, David Hume, Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects, London: A. Millar, 3rd edition, Volume 4, Discourse 11, “Of the Protestant Succession,” p. 247, […] ’tis justly to be apprehended, that persecutions will put a speedy period to the Protestant religion in the place of its nativity.
   • 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Swiss Notes, 4. Stimulation of the Alps” in Essays and Criticisms, Boston: H.B. Turner, 1903, p. 264, There is a certain wine of France known in England in some gaseous disguise, but when drunk in the land of its nativity still as a pool, clean as river water, and as heady as verse.

7. Place of origin; place to which a species is native.

8. The quality of being native or innate.