Find the word definition

The Collaborative International Dictionary
To calculate one's nativity

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) (capitalized) 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 one's future destinies; a horoscope.

    The Nativity, the birth or birthday of Christ; Christmas day.

    To cast one's nativity or To calculate one's nativity (Astrol.), to find out and represent the position of the heavenly bodies at the time of one's birth.