WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Mor*tal"i*ty
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [L. mortalitas: cf. F. mortalit?.]
Definition : 1. The condition or quality of being mortal; subjection to death or to the necessity of dying. When I saw her die, I then did think on your mortality. Carew.

2. Human life; the life of a mortal being. From this instant There 's nothing serious in mortality. Shak.

3. Those who are, or that which is, mortal; the human cace; humanity; human nature. Take these tears, mortality's relief. Pope.

4. Death; destruction. Shak.

5. The whole sum or number of deaths in a given time or a given community; also, the proportion of deaths to population, or to a specific number of the population; death rate; as, a time of great, or low, mortality; the mortality among the settlers was alarming. Bill of mortality. See under Bill. -- Law of mortality, a mathematical relation between the numbers living at different ages, so that from a given large number of persons alive at one age, it can be computed what number are likely to survive a given number of years. -- Table of mortality, a table exhibiting the average relative number of persons who survive, or who have died, at the end of each year of life, out of a given number supposed to have been born at the same time.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913