Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RE-AL'I-TY, n. [Fr. realité.]

1. Actual being or existence of any thing; truth; fact; in distinction from mere appearance. A man may fancy he understands a critic, when in reality he does not comprehend his meaning. – Addison.
2. Something intrinsically important, not merely matter of show. And to realities yield all her shows. – Milton.
3. In the schools, that may exist of itself, or which has a full and absolute being of itself, anti is not considered as a part of any thing else. – Encyc.
4. In law, immobility, or the fixed, permanent nature of property; as, chattels which savor of the realty. [This word really is so written in law, for reality.] – Blackstone.