Etymology

levitate

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Today it means: To cause to rise in the air and float, as if in defiance of external forces such as gravity. Full definition →

New Latin levitātus
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The story

  1. New Latin · borrowed fromlevitātus
  2. English todaylevitate

First attested in 1673; borrowed from New Latin levitātus, perfect passive participle of levitō (“to levitate; to have one's motion directed upward, as opposed to the downward motion induced by gravity”) (first attested c. 1670), modeled on gravitō (“to gravitate”) (← Latin gravis (“heavy”)), from levis (“light”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.