Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GEN-ER-OS'I-TY, n. [Fr. generosité; L. generositas, from genus, race, kind, with reference to birth, blood, family.]

1. The quality of being generous; liberality in principle; a disposition to give liberally or to bestow favors; a quality of the heart or mind opposed to meanness or parsimony.
2. Liberality in act; bounty.
3. Nobleness of soul; magnanimity. [This is the primary sense, but is now little used.]