Also 7 -ævitie, -evitie, 7–8 -ævity, 8 -ivity. [ad. L. longævitātem, f. longæv-us LONGEVOUS. Cf. F. longévité.] Long life; long duration of existence.
1615. A. Stafford, Heav. Dogge, 105. He beleeued the longeuity of the soule, and not the eternity.
1621. S. Ward, Life Faith, xiii. 109. The longæuity of those that liued before the Floud.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Serm., iii. 90. He hath not extended the period of our Lives to the Longævity of the Antediluvians.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 169, ¶ 1. Animals generally exceed each other in longevity, in proportion to the time between their conception and their birth.
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, III. 43. The town is … remarkable for the health and longævity of its inhabitants.
1813. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (ed. 4), I. 40. The longevity of fish is far superior to that of other creatures.
1862. Lytton, Str. Story, I. 180. Is it a sign of longevity when a man looks much younger than he is?
1873. Hamerton, Intell. Life, I. vii. (1875), 41. Young men are careless of longevity.
