nativities

Noun

nativity (countable and uncountable, plural nativities)

1. (dated) Someone's birth; the place, time and circumstances of a birth.
   • […] 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 […]1483, William Caxton, Prologue to The Golden Legend, The Holbein Society’s Fac-simile Reprints, London: The Holbein Society, 1878
2. Someone's birth considered as a means of astrology; a horoscope associated with a person's birth.
   • You ſtarres that raignd at my natiuitie, / whoſe influence hath alotted death and hel, / Now draw vp Fauſtus like a foggy miſt, / Into the intrailes of yon labring cloude, / That when you vomite foorth into the ayre, / My limbes may iſſue from your ſmoaky mouthes, / So that my ſoule may but aſcend...1589–1592 (date written), Ch[ristopher] Marl[owe], The Tragicall History of D. Faustus. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Thomas Bushell, published 1604, →OCLC, signature F2, verso
3. (also) The birth of Jesus.
   • […] towards the end of dinner […] there is an hymn sung, varied according to the invention of him that composeth it […] but the subject of it is (always) the praises of Adam and Noah and Abraham; whereof the former two peopled the world, and the last was the Father of the Faithful: concluding ever...1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “New Atlantis. A Worke Vnfinished.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn]...
4. (also) 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.
   • Be it therefore enacted by the authority of this present parliament, that the said statute of repeal, and every thing therein contained […] shall be void and of none effect, from, and after the feast of the Nativity of S. John Baptist, next coming.1559, “An Act for the uniformity of Common Prayer, and Service in the Church, and the administration of the Sacraments”, in William Keatinge Clay, editor, Liturgical Services: Liturgies and...
5. (also) A set of figurines used to create a nativity scene.
   • He would think of us when he was abroad and in all sorts of places where a daddy might reasonably forget his little boys; he brought us back delightful flat tin soldiers marching, cooking, camping, in oval wood boxes from Paris, and entertaining earthenware Nativities with kings, shepherds, and...1926, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “§ 4. The End of a Swindler.”, in The World of William Clissold: A Novel at a New Angle […], 1st American edition, volume I, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran...
6. (figuratively) Origin; founding.
   • […] ’tis justly to be apprehended, that persecutions will put a speedy period to the Protestant religion in the place of its nativity.1754, David Hume, Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects, London: A. Millar, 3rd edition, Volume 4, Discourse 11, “Of the Protestant Succession,” p. 247

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