gravity

noun

1. (uncountable)Senses relating to seriousness.

   “Page. Yonder is a moſt reuerend Gentleman; vvho (be-like) hauing receiued vvrong by ſome perſon, is at moſt odds vvith his ovvne grauity and patience, that euer you ſavv. / [Robert] Shal[low]. I haue liued foure-ſcore yeeres, and vpvvard: I neuer heard a man of his place, grauity, and learning, ſo vvide of his ovvne reſpect.”

   “[Y]ou ſhould ſee all thoſe grand cenſors, that novv ſtile them [plays] ſuch vanities, flock to them for the maine grace of their grauities: […]”

   “Gravity is the ballaſt of the ſoul, vvhich keeps the mind ſteddy. It is either true, or counterfeit.”

   “I went to compliment the Dutchesse of Grafton [Isabella FitzRoy, Duchess of Grafton], now laying-in of her first child, a sonn [Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton], which she call'd for, that I might see it. […] She discours'd with me of many particulars, with greate prudence and gravity beyond her yeares.”

   “Gravity often paſſes for VViſdom, VVit for Ability; […]”

2. (uncountable)Senses relating to seriousness.

   “I hope you appreciate the gravity of the situation.”

   “The iudges parte is to ſée that the puniſhemente paſſe not the grauitie of the offence.”

   “[B]y that lavve [among the Græcians] it vvas agreed, that he vvhich being ouercome vvith drinke did then ſtrike anye man, ſhoulde ſuffer puniſhment double as much as if hee had done the ſame being ſober. No man coulde euer haue thought this reaſonable that had intended thereby onely to puniſh the iniury committed, according to the grauitie of the fact.”

   “[W]e look'd for the diſcharge of his Office, the payment of his dutie to the Kingdom, and are payd Court payment vvith empty ſentences, that have the ſound of gravity, but the ſignificance of nothing pertinent.”

   “The vviſe vvill determine from the gravity of the caſe; the irritable from ſenſibility to oppreſſion; the high-minded from diſdain and indignation at abuſive povver in unvvorthy hands; the brave and bold from the love of honourable danger in a generous cauſe: […]”

3. (obsolete, uncountable)Senses relating to seriousness.

   “[T]ho' Guicciardin [Francesco Guicciardini] miſtakes in thoſe Points, vve may ſafely venture to depend on all the reſt of the Circumſtances as true Hiſtory: VVhy elſe ſhould they be mentioned by a Hiſtoriographer of ſuch Gravity?”

   “The principal officers of the empire vvere ſaluted, even by the ſovereign himſelf, vvith the deceitful titles of your Sincerity, your Gravity, your Excellency, your Eminence, your ſublime and vvonderful Magnitude, your illuſtrious and magnificent Highneſs.”

4. (uncountable)Senses relating to physical qualities.
5. (uncountable)Senses relating to physical qualities.

   “Aristotelian gravity Newtonian gravity”

   “[T]his Gravity, the great Baſis of all Mechaniſm, is not it ſelf Mechanical; but the immediate Fiat and Finger of God, […] [N]o Compound Body in the viſible vvorld can ſubſiſt and continue vvithout Gravity, and Gravity do immediately flovv from a Divine Povver and Energy; […]”

   “[I]f I vvere to explain the motion of a body falling to the ground, I vvould ſay it vvas cauſed by gravity, and I vvould endeavour to ſhevv after vvhat manner this povver operated, vvithout attempting to ſhevv vvhy it operated in this manner; […]”

   “Do you know that gravity is pulling at you, tugging at you, trying to drag you down, from the moment you awake in the morning till you tumble into bed at night?”

   “Some of the most beautiful and thus appealing physical theories, including quantum electrodynamics and quantum gravity, have been dogged for decades by infinities that erupt when theorists try to prod their calculations into new domains. Getting rid of these nagging infinities has probably occupied far more effort than was spent in originating the theories.”

6. (countable, dated)Senses relating to physical qualities.
7. (dated, uncountable)Senses relating to physical qualities.

   “Thus one generation is alvvays the ſcorn and vvonder of the other; and the notions of the old and young are like liquors of different gravity and texture, vvhich can never unite.”

8. (obsolete, uncountable)Senses relating to physical qualities.

   “[…] Similitude of Subſtance vvill cauſe Attraction, vvhere the Body is vvholly freed from the Motion of Grauitie: For if that vvere taken avvay, Lead vvould dravv Lead, and Gold vvould dravv Gold, and Iron vvould dravv Iron, vvithout the helpe of the Load-Stone. But this ſame Motion of VVeight or Grauitie, […] doth kill the other Motion, except it ſelfe be killed by a violent Motion; […]”

   “[I]t is not impoſſible (though hardly feiſible) by a ſingle Loadſtone to ſuſpend an iron in the ayre, the iron being artificially placed, and at a diſtance guided tovvards the ſtone, untill it find the nevvtrall point vvherein its gravity juſt equalls the magneticall quality, the on exactly extolling as much as the other depreſſeth; […]”

   “Heaven hath neither gravity nor levity; this is manifeſt from its motion vvhich is circular; not from the center vvhich is proper to light things; nor to the center, as is proper to heavy, but about the center.”

   “[The Earth] muſt perſevere in Motion, unleſs obſtructed by a Miracle. Neither can Gravity, vvhich makes great bodies hard of Remove, be any hindrance to the Earths motion: ſince even the Peripatetick Maxime, Nihil gravitat in ſuo loco [nothing weighs in its place], vvill exempt it from this indiſposing quality; vvhich is nothing but the tendency of its parts, vvhich are raviſh't from it, to their deſired Centre.”

   “[…] Gravity is an Intrinſecal Quality by vvhich a Body ſo qualified deſcendeth perpendicularly tovvards the Superfices of the Earth.”

9. (obsolete, rare, uncountable)Senses relating to physical qualities.

   “[T]he learned authors of this vvorld ſay that about thirty yeares, man is in his full ſtate, and from that time, hee declineth to an age of more grauity and decay: […]”