You can picture gravity as an invisible pull that makes everything drop and stay stuck to the ground: let go of a cup and it falls, your feet press the floor, nothing floats off. That downward 'heaviness' is the picture the whole word grows from.
From the word’s history
From Latin gravitas 'weight, heaviness', from gravis 'heavy'. The felt quality of 'heaviness' came first, then split two ways: the physical pulling-down force, and the figurative 'weightiness / seriousness'.
來自拉丁文 gravitas（重量、沉重），源自 gravis（重的）。最早指的是「重」這個實感，之後一邊發展成把東西往下拉的力，一邊發展成比喻上的「份量、嚴肅」。
etymonline.com/word/gravity; etymonline.com/word/gravitas
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料9 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
gravitynoun/ˈɡɹævɪti/
- 1
Senses relating to seriousness.
- Page. Yonder is a moſt reuerend Gentleman; vvho (be-like) hauing receiued vvrong by ſome perſon, is at moſt odds vvith his ovvne grauity and patience, that euer you ſavv. / [Robert] Shal[low]. I haue liued foure-ſcore yeeres, and vpvvard: I neuer heard a man of his place, grauity, and learning, ſo vvide of his ovvne reſpect.
- [Y]ou ſhould ſee all thoſe grand cenſors, that novv ſtile them [plays] ſuch vanities, flock to them for the maine grace of their grauities: […]
- 2
Senses relating to seriousness.
- I hope you appreciate the gravity of the situation.
- The iudges parte is to ſée that the puniſhemente paſſe not the grauitie of the offence.
- 3
obsoleteSenses relating to seriousness.
- [T]ho' Guicciardin [Francesco Guicciardini] miſtakes in thoſe Points, vve may ſafely venture to depend on all the reſt of the Circumſtances as true Hiſtory: VVhy elſe ſhould they be mentioned by a Hiſtoriographer of ſuch Gravity?
- The principal officers of the empire vvere ſaluted, even by the ſovereign himſelf, vvith the deceitful titles of your Sincerity, your Gravity, your Excellency, your Eminence, your ſublime and vvonderful Magnitude, your illuſtrious and magnificent Highneſs.
- 4
entertainmentlifestylemusicSenses relating to physical qualities.
- 5
natural-sciencesphysical-sciencesphysicsSenses relating to physical qualities.
- Aristotelian gravity Newtonian gravity
- [T]his Gravity, the great Baſis of all Mechaniſm, is not it ſelf Mechanical; but the immediate Fiat and Finger of God, […] [N]o Compound Body in the viſible vvorld can ſubſiſt and continue vvithout Gravity, and Gravity do immediately flovv from a Divine Povver and Energy; […]
- 6
datednatural-sciencesphysical-sciencesphysicsSenses relating to physical qualities.
- 7
datednatural-sciencesphysical-sciencesphysicsSenses relating to physical qualities.
- Thus one generation is alvvays the ſcorn and vvonder of the other; and the notions of the old and young are like liquors of different gravity and texture, vvhich can never unite.
- 8
obsoletenatural-sciencesphysical-sciencesphysicsSenses relating to physical qualities.
- […] Similitude of Subſtance vvill cauſe Attraction, vvhere the Body is vvholly freed from the Motion of Grauitie: For if that vvere taken avvay, Lead vvould dravv Lead, and Gold vvould dravv Gold, and Iron vvould dravv Iron, vvithout the helpe of the Load-Stone. But this ſame Motion of VVeight or Grauitie, […] doth kill the other Motion, except it ſelfe be killed by a violent Motion; […]
- [I]t is not impoſſible (though hardly feiſible) by a ſingle Loadſtone to ſuſpend an iron in the ayre, the iron being artificially placed, and at a diſtance guided tovvards the ſtone, untill it find the nevvtrall point vvherein its gravity juſt equalls the magneticall quality, the on exactly extolling as much as the other depreſſeth; […]
另外 1 個記錄的用法
- 9
obsoleterareSenses relating to physical qualities.
- [T]he learned authors of this vvorld ſay that about thirty yeares, man is in his full ſtate, and from that time, hee declineth to an age of more grauity and decay: […]
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。