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oating upon, a contiguous substance; buoyancy; -- opposed to gravity. He gave the form of levity to that which ascended; to that which descended, the form of gravity. Sir. W. Raleigh. This bubble by reason of its comparative levity to the fluidity that incloses it, would ascend to the top. Bentley.

Lightness of spirits; gayety; levity; as, the airiness of young persons.

urrence of comparative warmth and cold. Whewell. The bubble, by reason of its comparative levity to the fluid that incloses it, would necessarily ascend to the top. Bentley.

's consort." Fuller. "Working in consort." Hare. Take it singly, and is carries an air of levity; but, in consort with the rest, has a meaning quite different. Atterbury.

of the fifteenth century, inheriting its strange web of belief and unbelief, of epicurean levity and fetichistic dread. G. Eliot.

Unsteadiness; levity; lightness. [Obs.] Bp. Hopkins.

The state of being foolish; want of good sense; levity, weakness, or derangement of mind.

The condition or quality of being frivolous; also, acts or habits of trifling; unbecoming levity of disposition.

Given to trifling; marked with unbecoming levity; silly; interested especially in trifling matters. His personal tastes were low and frivolous. Macaulay.

Full of levity; dancing, playing, or frisking about; full of pranks; frolicsome; gay; merry. The frolic wind that breathes the spring. Milton. The gay, the frolic, and the loud. Waller.

breath or voice; to laugh in a light, affected, or silly manner; to titter with childish levity. Giggling and laughing with all their might At the piteous hap of the fairy wight. J. R. Drake.

customs, manners, or rites. Bacon. The love of things ancient doth argue stayedness, but levity and want of experience maketh apt unto innovations. Hooker.

; an additional ingredient. In this height of impiety there wanted not an intermixture of levity and folly. Bacon.

Indulging in, or inclined to, levity; wanting dignity or solemnity; trifling; gay; frivolous; airy; unsubstantial. Seneca can not be too heavy, nor Plautus too light. Shak. Specimens of New England humor laboriously light and lamentably mirthful. Hawthorne.

An old tune of a dance, the name of which made it a proverbial expression of levity, especially in love matters. Nares. "Best sing it to the tune of light-o'-love." Shak.

Without heed or care; with levity; gayly; airily. Matrimony . . . is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly. Book of Common Prayer [Eng. Ed.].

The state, condition, or quality, of being light or not heavy; buoyancy; levity; fickleness; delicacy; grace.

To act with levity or thoughtlessness; to trifle; to be careless. "Nay," quod this monk, "I have no lust to pleye." Chaucer. Men are apt to play with their healths. Sir W. Temple.

Transgression of the limits of soberness or steadiness; act of levity; wild gayety; frolic; escapade. The excursion was esteemed but a sally of youth. Sir H. Wotton. Sally port. (a) (Fort.) A postern gate, or a passage underground, from the inner to the outer works, to afford free egress for troops in a sortie. (b) (Na…

id; seriousness; steadiness; sedateness; regularity; -- the opposite of wildness, or Ant: levity. If sometimes he appears too gray, yet a secret gracefulness of youth accompanies his writings, though the staidness and sobriety of age wanting. Dryden.