catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  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.