Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DES'TI-NY, n. [Fr. destin; It. destino; Sp. id.]

1. State or condition appointed or predetermined; ultimate fate; as, men are solicitous to know their future destiny, which is however happily concealed from them.
2. Invincible necessity; fate; a necessity or fixed order of things established by a divine decree, or by an indissoluble connection of causes and effects. But who can turn the stream of destiny? – Spenser. Destinies, the fates, or supposed powers which preside over human life, spin it out, and determine it; called by the Latins, parcæ.