From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Humanity \Hu*man"i*ty\, n.; pl. Humanities. [L. humanitas: cf.
F. humanit['e]. See Human.]
1. The quality of being human; the peculiar nature of man, by
which he is distinguished from other beings.
[1913 Webster]
2. Mankind collectively; the human race.
[1913 Webster]
But hearing oftentimes
The still, and music humanity. --Wordsworth.
[1913 Webster]
It is a debt we owe to humanity. --S. S. Smith.
[1913 Webster]
3. The quality of being humane; the kind feelings,
dispositions, and sympathies of man; especially, a
disposition to relieve persons or animals in distress, and
to treat all creatures with kindness and tenderness. "The
common offices of humanity and friendship." --Locke.
[1913 Webster]
4. Mental cultivation; liberal education; instruction in
classical and polite literature.
[1913 Webster]
Polished with humanity and the study of witty
science. --Holland.
[1913 Webster]
5. pl. (With definite article) The branches of polite or
elegant learning; as language, rhetoric, poetry, and the
ancient classics; belles-letters.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The cultivation of the languages, literature, history,
and arch[ae]ology of Greece and Rome, were very
commonly called liter[ae] humaniores, or, in English,
the humanities, . . . by way of opposition to the
liter[ae] divin[ae], or divinity. --G. P. Marsh.
[1913 Webster]