Conceive \Con*ceive"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Conceived; p. pr. &
vb. n. Conceiving.]
[OF. conzoivre, concever, conceveir, F.
concevoir, fr. L. oncipere to take, to conceive; con- +
capere to seize or take. See Capable, and cf.
Conception.]
1. To receive into the womb and begin to breed; to begin the
formation of the embryo of.
She hath also conceived a son in her old age. --Luke
i. 36.
2. To form in the mind; to plan; to devise; to generate; to
originate; as, to conceive a purpose, plan, hope.
It was among the ruins of the Capitol that I first
conceived the idea of a work which has amused and
exercised near twenty years of my life. --Gibbon.
Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of
falsehood. --Is. lix. 13.
3. To apprehend by reason or imagination; to take into the
mind; to know; to imagine; to comprehend; to understand.
``I conceive you.'' --Hawthorne.
O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart Cannot
conceive nor name thee! --Shak.
You will hardly conceive him to have been bred in
the same climate. --Swift.
Syn: To apprehend; imagine; suppose; understand; comprehend;
believe; think.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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