gravitate (v.)

gwerə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "heavy."

It forms all or part of: aggravate; aggravation; aggrieve; bar (n.4) "unit of pressure;" bariatric; baritone; barium; barometer; blitzkrieg; brig; brigade; brigand; brigantine; brio; brut; brute; charivari; gravamen; grave (adj.); gravid; gravimeter; gravitate; gravity; grief; grieve; kriegspiel; guru; hyperbaric; isobar; quern; sitzkrieg.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit guruh "heavy, weighty, venerable;" Greek baros "weight," barys "heavy in weight," often with the notion of "strength, force;" Latin gravis, "heavy, ponderous, burdensome, loaded; pregnant;" Old English cweorn "quern;" Gothic kaurus "heavy;" Lettish gruts "heavy."

1640s in physics, "force that gives weight to objects," also figurative, "act of tending toward a center of attraction," from Modern Latin gravitare (see gravitate). Compare gravity.

1670s, "to rise by virtue of lightness" (intransitive), from Latin levitas "lightness," on the model of gravitate (compare levity). Transitive sense of "raise (a person) into the air, cause to become buoyant" (1870s) is mainly from spiritualism. Related: Levitated; levitating.