Forms: α. 4–8 conceipt(e; β. 4–7 conceyt(e, 5–7 -ceite, 6–7 -ceat(e, (7 -ciet), 5– conceit; γ. 4–6 conseyt(e, -seit(e, (5 -sceyt(e), 5–6 -sayte, 6 consate, Sc. -sait(e, (-saight, -sette), 7 Sc. -seate. [To this there appears to be no corresp. OF. word, so that it would seem that conceit was formed in Eng. from conceive, on the analogy supplied by deceive, deceit (OF. deceite, -cyte, -cite, Anglo-F. desçait (in Langtoft):—L. type decepta), receive, receipt (OF. receite, reçoite, F. † recepte, recette:—L. recepta). It. concetto (:—L. concept-us a conceiving) was evidently the source of some of the later senses.]
I. Conception; conceiving and its product.
† 1. That which is conceived in the mind, a conception, notion, idea, thought; device. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, I. 692. For-þi wolde I fayn remeue Thy wrong conceyte. Ibid., III. 755. Allas conseytes wronge What harm þey don.
1388. Wyclif, Ecclus. xxxii. 16. Do thi conseitis (That is, parforme thi good purpos conseyued there).
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 137. Whan the word to the conceipt Descordeth.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 89. Conceyte, conceptus.
1519. Interl. Four Elements, in Hazl., Dodsley, I. 7. Every man after his fantasy Will write his conceit.
1549. Compl. Scot., Ded. Ep. 6. Ane temerare consait.
1596. Spenser, State Irel., 1. But a vaine conceipt of simple men.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, I. vi. (1840), 8. Fluent in language to express their conceits.
1703. Dampier, Voy., III. 88. Being thus possess’d with a Conceit that we could not Sail from hence till September.
† b. Const. of. Obs.
1432. Paston Lett., No. 18, I. 33. The king is growen … in conceite and knowleche of his hiegh … estat.
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, II. § 6. 141. Soothing of people with conceipt of plenty.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 37. Dr. Brown hath ranked this conceit of the Eyes of a Snail amongst the Vulgar errours of the multitude.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. viii. (1865), 288. A glimmering conceit of some such thing.
† c. Used in the logical senses of CONCEPT. Obs.
1588. Fraunce, Lawyer’s Logike, 92. Every conceipt of the mind is determinatly eyther generall or speciall, and speciall eyther particular or singular. Ibid., 87.
1654. Z. Coke, Logike. As the word man is [used] to express primarily the conceit which we form of human nature. Ibid., 11.
1665. Glanvill, Scepsis Sci., xxvi. ’Tis more then any man can determine, whether his conceit of what he calls white, be the same with anothers.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 20. That conceit which men have in their minds concerning a Horse … is the Notion or mental Image of that Beast.
† d. Conception, signification, meaning. Obs.
1659. Instruct. Oratory, 71. Eastern-tongues use … reduplication onely for the more … gravity, without varying at all the conceit.
1674. Playford, Skill Mus., I. xi. 40. Understanding of the Conceit and the humour of the words.
† 2. The faculty of conceiving; conception, apprehension, understanding. Obs.
c. 1450. Why I can’t be a Nun, 336, in E. E. P. (1862), 147. Sum man wolde say, And to hys conceyte so hyt schulde seme, That I forsoke sone a perfyte way.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia (1590), II. xxii. 200–1. How often (alas) did her eyes say vnto me, that they loued? and yet, I (not looking for such a matter) had not my conceipt open, to vnderstand them.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., 117. You haue a good master and a quicke conceit.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., V. ii. 48. I know you are a Gentleman of good conceit.
1658. Whole Duty Man, i. § 11 (1684), 2. Excellent, beyond all that our wit or conceit can imagine.
1805. Wordsw., Waggoner, I. 91. His own conceit the figure planned.
† b. Capacity (mental). Obs.
1560. Rolland, Crt. Venus, IV. 652. Thame to rehers it excedis my consait.
1613. R. C., Table Alph. (ed. 3), Capacitie, largenesse of a place, conceit or receit.
† c. ? Frame of mind, disposition. Obs.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., II. ii. Theyr lye in wayte Gyauntes great … that all devoureth by theyr yll conceyte.
† 3. The process or action of conceiving; conception. Obs.
1594. Drayton, Idea, 860. Wise in Conceit, in Act a very sot.
1709. Strype, Ann. Ref., I. xlvii. 510. The Earl of Murray had departed lately from the Scotch Court, upon conceit of that Queen’s love to the Lord Darnley.
II. Personal or private opinion.
† 4. Personal opinion, judgment or estimation, usually ‘in a neutral sense’ (J.). as in my conceit, in my opinion or conception of the case. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Can. Yeom. Prol. & T., 661. Ye schul have no mysbileeve Ne wrong conceyt of me in youre absence.
c. 1440. Generydes, 4739. A litill dogge … In here conseite a grete Iewell it was.
1448. R. Fox, Chron. (Camden Soc.), 114. The seyde duke stoode in gode conseyte of the peple.
1549. Compl. Scot., Prol. 11. Ve sal fynd amang ane thousand men, ane thousand consaitis.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., II. (Arb.), 127. Comelinesse of bewtye doethe … auaunce the wiues in the conceite of their husbandes.
1633. Bp. Hall, Hard Texts N. T., 61. Herod had an awfull and reverent conceit of John.
1658. Whole Duty Man, xiii. § 11 (1684), 100. Willing to lay down ill conceits of their neighbours.
1759. Franklin, Ess., Wks. 1840, III. 369. A remonstrance … containing a submissive conceit, that one hundred thousand pounds … would answer.
† b. of oneself, one’s own opinions, etc., with qualifying adjs. bad, good, etc. Obs. See also SELF-CONCEIT, orig. ‘self-conceived opinion.’ (Cf. 5 b.)
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 136. Vayne conceipte of his own opinion.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 84. To confirme that good selfe-conceit and opinion of his owne.
a. 1677. Barrow, Serm. (1683), II. i. 11. Every man is unwilling to entertain a bad conceit of himself.
a. 1716. Blackall, Wks. (1723), I. 9. Such as have a mean and low Conceit of themselves.
1788. Burns, Lett. to Clarinda, 7 March. Lord, send us a gude conceit o’ oursel’!
c. In one’s own conceit: in one’s own private opinion, estimation, or judgment: now colored by sense 6.
1482. Monk of Evesham (Arb.), 63. Thys clerke … was wise and wyttye in hys owne conceyte.
1535. Coverdale, Rom. xii. 16. Be not proude in youre awne consaytes [Cranm. & Geneva opinions; Rheims conceite; 1611, 1881 conceits].
1535. Joye, Apol. Tindale, 5. Standing to miche in our own consaightis.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 734. He imagined in his awne conceipt, that this request would be made.
a. 1670. Hacket, Abp. Williams, I. (1692), 176. By falling down in your own conceipt, you are mounted higher in the opinion of all others.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Praise Drunk., Wks. 1730, I. 36. A drunkard does … fancy himself a king in his own conceit.
5. Favorable opinion, esteem; = good conceit in 4. Now dial. exc. in out of conceit with, dissatisfied with, no longer pleased with.
1462. Paston Lett., No. 445, II. 96. John Fermour … stondyth out of the conceyte of much peple.
1480. Robt. Devyll, in Thoms, Prose Rom. (1858), I. 50. Ye be in grace and conceyte with Almyghty God.
1514. Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.), p. xliii. Thou mayst suspect … Him more in favour and in conceipt then thou.
c. 1590. Greene, Fr. Bacon, Wks. (1861), 173. Europes conceit of Bacon hath an end.
1651. Life Father Sarpi (1676), 89. With all the Grandees … he was in the greatest conceipt that any private person could obtain.
1687. Congreve, Old Bach., I. iv. What fine lady hast thou been putting out of conceit with herself.
1783. Franklin, Autobiog., Wks. 1840, I. 192. Enough to put us out of conceit of such defenders.
1838. J. H. Newman, Par. Serm., IV. x. 184. To be out of conceit with our lot in life.
1879. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., I hanna much consait of ’er [i.e., I don’t think much of her].
b. of oneself, or one’s qualities. Cf. SELF-CONCEIT.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 499 b. Blynded with selfe love … swallowed upp with his owne conceipt.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., 87. Conceit of their own sufficiencie hath ouerthrowne many.
1598. Barnfield, Compl. Poetrie, xix. The flattring Glasse of Pride, and Self-conceit.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., I. ii. IV. iv. They … possessed the poor man with a conceipt of his excellent Poetry.
1674. trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, xv. 77. That man that is skilled in these tongues hath not little conceit of himself.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., (1869), II. ii. 422. The landlord’s conceit of his own superior knowledge.
1830. Cunningham, Brit. Paint., II. 227. With … a large conceit of himself.
6. An overweening opinion of oneself; overestimation of one’s own qualities, personal vanity or pride; conceitedness. App. short for prec. or for SELF-CONCEIT.
1605. Bp. Hall, Medit. & Vows, I. § 96. The proude man, though hee be empty of good substance, yet he is full of conceite.
1836. Hor. Smith, Tin Trump. (1876), 100. Conceit—taking ourselves at our own valuation generally about fifty per cent. above the fair worth.
1845. Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 50. It takes the conceit out of a man.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., i. 4. Conceit … is to human character what salt is to the ocean; it keeps it sweet, and renders it endurable.
III. Fancy; fanciful opinion, action, or production.
7. A fanciful notion; a fancy, a whim.
1530. Palsgr., 207/2. Conceyte, fantaisie.
[1549. Compl. Scot., i. 22. Fortune is … ane vane consait ymaginet in the hartis of onfaythtful men.]
1611. Dekker, Roaring Girle, Wks. 1873, III. 195. Some haue a conceit their drink tasts better In an outlandish cup then in our owne.
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 365. A conceit or fancy, imaginatio.
c. 1714. Burnet, Own Time (1823), I. 425. As the conceit took her, she made him fall out with all his friends, one after another.
1848–76. Mill, Pol. Econ., Prelim. Rem. 2. The conceit seems too preposterous to be thought of as a serious opinion.
b. (without pl.) Fancy, imagination, as an attribute or faculty.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, VIII. 102. When reason should giue iudgement, conceyt standeth in the light.
1581. Sidney, Apol. Poetrie (Arb.), 23. That high flying liberty of conceit proper to the Poet.
1590. Greene, Orl. Fur., Wks. (1861), 94. In conceit build castles in the sky.
1622. R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea (1847), 57. The cause of this sicknes some attribute to sloath; some to conceite.
1740. Somerville, Hobbinol, III. 244. In Conceit Already grasp the warm-contested Prize.
1874. Dixon, Two Queens, XVII. viii. The name of Anna tickled his conceit.
8. A fanciful, ingenious, or witty notion or expression; now applied disparagingly to a strained or far-fetched turn of thought, figure, etc., an affectation of thought or style; = CONCETTO.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. Prol. 344. Als oft as ȝe him reid … Ȝe fynd ilk tyme sum merye new consait.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 264. How … our toung may be framed to pretie conceiptes.
1633. Treas. Hid. Secrets, Pref. Some rare conceits not before published.
1653. Walton, Angler, 46. Most of his conceits were either Scripture-jests, or lascivious jests; for which I count no man witty.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 141, ¶ 10. Sometimes I drew the conversation up … to a proper point, and produced a conceit which I had treasured up.
1785. Reid, Int. Powers, II. x. 287. His style is disagreeable being full of Conceits.
1838–9. Hallam, Hist. Lit., III. v. III. § 5. 229. Extravagant metaphors … and conceits on equivocal words are very frequent in the Adone.
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, x. 324. The Greeks had no conceits: they did not call the waves ‘nodding hearse-plumes’ … or laburnums ‘dropping wells of fire.’
1888. Spectator, 30 June, 907/2. The Seventeenth Century, when the sweetness of song, is for the most part lost in its conceits.
b. A fanciful action, practice, etc.; a trick.
c. 1520. Vergilius, in Thoms, Prose Rom. (1858), II. 59. The lyfe of Vergilius with many dyuers consaytes that he dyd.
1558. Grafton, Chron., II. 719. A pretie conceyt that happened in this gathering.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 67. Practise some pleasant conceipt vpon thy poore patient.
1644. Bulwer, Chirol., 1. Declarative conceits of Gesture.
1728. Young, Love Fame, I. 186. Men, overloaded with a large estate, May spill their treasure in a nice conceit.
1874. Green, Short Hist., v. 214. Religious enthusiasm had degenerated into the pretty conceits of Mariolatry.
c. (without pl.) The use of conceits as a quality of literary taste or style; ‘sentiment, as distinguished from imagery’ (J.).
1589. Nashe, in Greene’s Menaph., Ded. (Arb.), 8. Oft haue I obserued … a secular wit … to bee more iudiciall in matters of conceit, then our quadrant crepundios.
1709. Pope, Ess. Crit., 291. Some to conceit alone their taste confine.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Ess., 227. Conceit is false taste, and very widely different from no taste at all.
1838–9. Hallam, Hist. Lit., IV. v. IV. § 53. A tendency to conceit is perceived in Rapin.
d. ‘Gaiety of imagination’ (J.), wit.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. iv. 263. His Wit is as thicke as Tewksburie Mustard: there is no more conceit in him, then is in a Mallet.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 141, ¶ 7. Sudden scintillations of conceit.
† 9. concr. A fancy article. Obs.
1463. Bury Wills (1850), 25. Steyned clothes wt ymages, and othir consceytes longyng to the seid place.
1538. Starkey, England, I. iii. 80. Marchantys wych cary out thyngys necessary … and bryng in agayn vayn tryfullys and conceytes.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., I. 33/1. Ouches, or earrings, and other conceits made of amber.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., I. i. 41. Bracelets of thy haire, rings, gawdes, conceits.
1640–4. Lond. Petit., in Rushw., Hist. Coll. (1692), III. I. 95. The turning of the Communion Table Altar-wise, setting Images, Crucifixes, and Conceits over them, and Tapers and Books upon them.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 59, ¶ 5. To blemish his excellent Plan with so poor a Conceit.
1823. J. F. Cooper, Pioneer, vii. A small basket of the ash-wood slips, coloured in divers fantastical conceits.
† b. A fancy trifle for the table; kickshaws.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. xxvi. 72. He wolde gladlye se conseytes and fantesies at his table.
a. 1554. Rhodes, Bk. Nurture, in Babees Bk., 68. If your Mayster will haue any conceites after dinner, as appels, Nuts, or creame.
1582. Munday, in Harl. Misc. (Malh.), II. 182. The … last is sometime cheese, sometime prescrued conceites.
1608. Armin, Nest Ninn. (1842), 21. Mingling a conceit with butter.
c. Of a person: An oddity. Sc.
1878. W. Miller, Wonderfu’ Wean, in Whistle-Binkie, II. 317 (Supp.). He was sic a conceit—sic an ancient-like wean.
IV. † 10. Conception of offspring. Obs.
1589. Pasquil’s Ret., D iij. The myncing Dame[s] conceipt was so quick, that shee caught a childe whilst her husbande was from her. [Perhaps only a pun.]
† 11. A (morbid) affection or seizure of the body or mind: see CONCEIVE v. 5; esp. in phrase To take a conceipt: to become affected, to sicken, etc.
1568. R. Grafton, Chron. Hen. IV., II. 433. When newes of this… was shewed to his father, he tooke such an inward conceipt, that it cost him his lyfe.
1603. Florio, Montaigne, III. iv. (1632), 469. The Conceipt of the stone … hath … so stopped my urine.
1622. Peacham, Compl. Gent., xi. (1634), 101. He found the affection of the Pope so estranged from him, that hereupon hee tooke a conceipt and dyed.
V. 12. attrib. and Comb., as conceit-net (Sc.), a kind of fishing net fixed by poles and including a portion of a tidal river or bay.
1805. State, Leslie of Powis, etc., 78 (Jam.). Whether the feith-nets, and conceit-net, and yare-net, are stent-nets? Ibid., 109. The conceit-net is thirty fathoms in length, and two and one-half fathoms in depth.
