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That which has produced or nurtured anything; source of birth or origin; generatrix. Alas! poor country! ... it can not Be called our mother, but our grave. Shak. I behold ... the solitary majesty of Crete, mother of a religion, it is said, that lived two thousand years. Landor.

Producing many, or more than one, at a birth.

A spot or mark on the skin of children when born; a birthmark; -- usually applied to vascular tumors, i. e., those consisting mainly of blood vessels, as dilated arteries, veins, or capillaries.

State of being nascent; birth; beginning; origin.

Of or pertaining to one's birth; accompying or dating from one's birth; native. Princes' children took names from their natal places. Camden. Propitious star, whose sacred power Presided o'er the monarch's natal hour. Prior.

Of or pertaining to one's birth or birthday, or one's nativity. [Obs.] "Natalitial poplar." Evelyn. "Natalitious fire." W. Cartwright.

One's birth, or the circumstances attending it. [Obs.] Fitz- Geffry.

Arising by birth; having an origin; born. [Obs.] Anaximander's opinion is, that the gods are native, rising and vanishing again in long periods of times. Cudworth.

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…

sometimes used in introducing the name of the family to which a married woman belongs by birth; as, Madame de Staël, née Necker.

rd of living is impossible without decrease of competition by limitation of the number of births. -- Ne`o- Mal*thu"sian, Ne`o-Mal*thu"sian*ism, n.

Fresh from anything; newly come. New from her sickness to that northern air. Dryden. New birth. See under Birth. -- New Church, or New Jerusalem Church, the church holding the doctrines taught by Emanuel Swedenborg. See Swedenborgian. -- New heart (Theol.), a heart or character changed by the power of God, so as to b…

The state of being of high rank or noble birth; patrician dignity; antiquity of family; distinction by rank, station, or title, whether inherited or conferred. I fell on the same argument of preferring virtue to nobility of blood and titles, in the story of Sigismunda. Dryden.

Of exalted rank; of or pertaining to the nobility; distinguished from the masses by birth, station, or title; highborn; as, noble blood; a noble personage.

the nobility; a noble; a peer; one who enjoys rank above a commoner, either by virtue of birth, by office, or by patent.

Dignity; greatness; noble birth or condition. [Obs.] Chaucer. Spenser. B. Jonson.

Noble birth; nobility; dignity. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Christmas; also, a shout of joy at Christmas for the birth of the Savior. [Obs.]

Serving to assist childbirth; obstetric; hence, facilitating any bringing forth or deliverance. [Obs.] Yet is all human teaching but maieutical, or obstetricious. Cudworth.

midwifery; the art of assisting women in parturition, or in the trouble incident to childbirth.