Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GRAV'I-TY, n. [Fr. gravité; Sp. gravidad; L. gravitas, from gravis, heavy. See Grave.]

1. Weight; heaviness.
2. In philosophy, that force by which bodies tend or are pressed or drawn toward the center of the earth, or toward some other center, or the effect of that force; in which last sense gravity is synonymous with weight. Encyc. Gravity is the tendency of great bodies to a center, or the sum or results of all the attractions of all the molecules composing a great body. Dict. Nat. Hist. The force of gravity in a body is in direct proportion to its quantity of matter. Anon.
3. Specific gravity, the weight belonging to an equal bulk of every different substance. Thus the exact weight of a cubic inch of gold, compared with that of a cubic inch of water or tin, is called its specific gravity. The specific gravity of bodies is usually ascertained by weighing them in distilled water. Encyc.
4. Seriousness; sobriety of manners; solemnity of deportment or character. Great Cato there, for gravity renowned. Dryden.
5. Weight; enormity; atrociousness; as, the gravity of an an injury. [Not used.] Hooker.
6. In music, lowness of sound.