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 race; 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.
Mortalize
(Mor"tal*ize) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mortalized ; p. pr. & vb. n. Mortalizing ] To make mortal.
[R.]
Mortally
(Mor"tal*ly), adv.
1. In a mortal manner; so as to cause death; as, mortally wounded.
2. In the manner of a mortal or of mortal beings.
I was mortally brought forth.
Shak. 3. In an extreme degree; to the point of dying or causing death; desperately; as, mortally jealous.
Adrian mortally envied poets, painters, and artificers, in works wherein he had a vein to excel.
Bacon. Mortalness
(Mor"tal*ness), n. Quality of being mortal; mortality.
Mortar
(Mor"tar) n. [OE. morter, AS. mortere, L. mortarium: cf. F. mortier mortar. Cf. sense 2 also
2d Mortar, Martel, Morter.]
1. A strong vessel, commonly in form of an inverted bell, in which substances are pounded or rubbed
with a pestle.
2. [F. mortier, fr. L. mortarium mortar ] (Mil.) A short piece of ordnance, used for throwing bombs,
carcasses, shells, etc., at high angles of elevation, as 45°, and even higher; — so named from its resemblance
in shape to the utensil above described.
Mortar bed (Mil.),
a framework of wood and iron, suitably hollowed out to receive the breech and trunnions
of a mortar. — Mortar boat or vessel (Naut.), a boat strongly built and adapted to carrying a mortar
or mortars for bombarding; a bomb ketch. — Mortar piece, a mortar. [Obs.] Shak.
Mortar
(Mor"tar), n. [OE. mortier, F. mortier, L. mortarium mortar, a large basin or trough in which
mortar is made, a mortar See 1st Mortar.] (Arch.) A building material made by mixing lime, cement,