Emily Dickinson Lexicon

POS-TER'I-TY, n. [Fr. posterité; L. posteritas, from posterus, from post, after.]

1. Descendants; children, children's children, &c. indefinitely; the race that proceeds from a progenitor. The whole human race are the posterity of Adam.
2. In a general sense, succeeding generations; opposed to ancestors. To the unhappy that unjustly bleed, / Heav'n gives posterity t' avenge the deed. – Pope.