The Collaborative International Dictionary
Deity \De"i*ty\ (d[=e]"[i^]*t[y^]), n.; pl. Deities (d[=e]"[i^]*t[i^]z). [OE. deite, F. d['e]it['e], fr. L. deitas, fr. deus a god; akin to divus divine, Jupiter, gen. Jovis, Jupiter, dies day, Gr. di^os divine, Zey`s, gen. Dio`s, Zeus, Skr. d[=e]va divine, as a noun, god, daiva divine, dy[=o] sky, day, hence, the sky personified as a god, and to the first syllable of E. Tuesday, Gael. & Ir. dia God, W. duw. Cf. Divine, Journey, Journal, Tuesday.]
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The collection of attributes which make up the nature of a god; divinity; godhead; as, the deity of the Supreme Being is seen in his works.
They declared with emphasis the perfect deity and the perfect manhood of Christ.
--Milman. -
A god or goddess; a heathen god.
To worship calves, the deities Of Egypt.
--Milton.The Deity, God, the Supreme Being.
This great poet and philosopher [Simonides], the more he contemplated the nature of the Deity, found that he waded but the more out of his depth.
--Addison.
Usage examples of "the deity".
This is the second logos of Philo, that which acts from the beginning of the world, alone in its kind, creator of the sensible world, formed by God according to the ideal world which he had in himself, and which was the first logos, the first-born of the Deity.
A great number of plates of different metals, artificially joined together, composed the majestic figure of the deity, who touched on either side the walls of the sanctuary.
It was no doubt moulded up with the tenet of the transmigration of the soul, perhaps with notions analogous to the emanation system of India in which the human soul was an efflux from or indeed a part of, the Deity.
Thus I say, the deity that reigns now is Shiva/Dionysos/Cernunnos/Christ, who restores us to our Urgrund or Father: our source of being.
I have inferred the necessity of these dual qualities of the deity involved back from the situation itself.
May the heavens, and fire, the deity of the heavens, fall upon our heads!
How could the deity of light lose when both sides were portions of him?
Normally, he would no sooner have tried magic after drinking ale than he would have tried leaping off the palisade headfirst, but when the god whose aid he sought was also the deity who turned malted barley to ale, what he would normally do took second place to that special concern.