Forms: 4 condut, cundid, -it, kundute, -dit(e, (pl. condwys, condise), 4–5 condyt, condethe, 4–6 condit, -dite, -dyte, cundite, -dyt(e, 5 coundite, -duyte, cundyth(e, 5–6 conduyt(e, condet(te, 5–7 conduict, 6 condute, condyd, cunditt, cunduite, coundight, -dyte, 6–7 conduite, 8 cunduit, 6– conduit. [A particular application of the word CONDUCT (OF. conduit, med.L. conductus in same sense), formerly having all the three type-forms conduit, condit (cundit), conduct; but, while in the other senses the Latin form conduct has prevailed, in this the French form conduit is retained, and the pronunciation descends from the ME. form condit or cundit.]
1. An artificial channel or pipe for the conveyance of water or other liquids; an aqueduct, a canal. (In Sc. in the form cundie commonly applied to a covered drain, not a tile drain.)
α. 1340. Ayenb., 91. Þise uif wytes byeþ ase uif condwys.
1382. Wyclif, Ecclus. xxiv. 41. As water kundute [1388 cundit].
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 852, Tisbe. As water, whanne the conduyte broken ys.
1570. B. Googe, Pop. Kingd., II. 21 b. The Conduites runne, within continually.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 27. Conduits of lead, wherein the water shal be conueighed.
1704. Addison, Italy (1733), 215. Conduits Pipes and Canals that were made to distribute the Waters.
1812. Act 52 Geo. III., c. 141 § 43. in Oxf. & Camb. Enactm., 125. A certain Conduit called Hobsen’s Conduit.
1833. Act 3–4 Will. IV., c. 46 § 116. The pipes or other conduits … used for the conveyance of gas.
1864. A. McKay, Hist. Kilmarnock (ed. 3), 274. Roads having side-drains and cross conduits.
1883. Parkes, Pract. Hygiene (ed. 6), 25. Open conduits are liable to be contaminated by surface washings.
β. 1382. Wyclif, 2 Sam. ii. 24. Thei camen to the hil of the water kundit. Ibid. (1382), 1 Kings xviii. 32. He beeldide vp an auter … and he made a water cundid.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 221. A greet condyt [aquæductum].
c. 1400. Maundev. v. (1839), 47. Þere is no water to drynke, but ȝif it come be condyt from Nyle [Roxb. vii. 24 in cundites fra the riuer].
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 1414. Stremis smale, that by devise Myrthe had done come through condise.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 181. Floode Danubius flowethe … in condettes vnder the erthe.
c. 1450. Nominale, in Wr.-Wülcker, 733/40. Hic aqueductus, a cundyth undyr the erthe.
1541. Act 33 Hen. VIII., c. 35 (heading), An acte concerning the condites at Gloucester.
1587. Bristol Wills (1886), 249. To the yerely Repayringe of the Cundyte of the said parishe.
γ. 1491. Wriothesley, Chron. (1875), I. 2. A conduict begun at Christ Churche.
1607. Norden, Surveyors Dial., 85. I see the Conducts are made of earthen pipes, which I like farre better then them of Leade.
1642. Perkins, Prof. Bk., i. 49. A Pipe in the land to convey the water to my manour in a Conduct.
† 2. A structure from which water is distributed or made to issue; a fountain. Obs. or arch.
α. c. 1430. Lydg., Bochas, I. xiv. (1554), 30 a. Like a conduit gushed out the bloude.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., clxi. 144. Oute of the conduyt of chepe ran whyte wyn and rede.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 426. They newe buylded in the same place a fayre Conduyt, which at this day is called the Conduyt in Cornehyll.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 334. In the middle of the Court there is an exceeding pleasant Conduite that spowteth out water in three degrees one aboue another.
1774. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, III. xxvi. 154. On the conduit without Ludgate, where the arms and angels had been refreshed.
1878. Rossetti, Poems, Dante at Verona, xxviii. The conduits round the garden sing.
fig. a. 1645. Heywood, Fort. by Land & Sea, I. i. See you not these purple conduits run, Know you these wounds?
β. a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 201. Clarett and Creette, clergyally rennene, With condethes fulle curious alle of clene siluyre.
c. 1400. Maundev., xx. (1839), 217. Þei that ben of houshold, drynken at the condyt.
c. 1530. Ld. Berners, Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814), 139. At the foure corners of this bedde there were foure condytes … out of the whiche there yssued so sweet an odour and so delectable.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden), 27. At the condyd in Graschestret, the condet in Cornelle … at the lyttyll condyd … ronnynge wyne, rede claret and wythe.
γ. 1533. Anne Boleyn’s Coronation, in Furniv., Ballads fr. MSS., I. 393. At the conducte in Cornehill was exhibited a Pageaunte of the three Graces.
1538. Leland, Itin., II. 70. There is a Conduct in the Market Place.
† b. ? A laver or large basin. Obs.
1500. Will of J. Ward (Somerset Ho.). My grete lavatory of laton called a Condyte.
1592. R. D., trans. Hypnerotomachia, 6. Great lauers, condites, and other infinite fragments of notable woorkmanship.
3. transf. Any natural channel, canal, or passage; † a. in the animal body (obs.); b. (19th c.) in geological or geographical formations; = CANAL 2, CHANNEL 6.
α. 1340. Ayenb., 202. Zuo þet o stream of tyeares yerne be þe condut of þe eȝen.
1483. Caxton, De la Tour, L iij b. Wyn taken ouer mesure … stoppeth the conduytes of the nose.
1561. Hollybush, Hom. Apoth., 38 a. For thys drincke mollifieth it [the bladder] openeth the condute.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, IV. lxxx. 544. It doth also stoppe the pores and conduites of the skinne.
1607. Walkington, Opt. Glass, viii. (1664), 100. The Conduits of the Spirits, and the Arteries and Veins.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), I. I. i. 269. The conduit that goes to the third stomach.
1830. R. Knox, Béclard’s Anat., 88. The secretion of the fat … is not performed in glands or in particular conduits.
1839. Murchison, Silur. Syst., I. ix. 126. A subterranean conduit or eruptive channel by which the volcanic matter was protruded to the surface.
1862. Dana, Man. Geol., 693. This alone produces a rise of the lavas in the conduit.
β. 1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. ix. 17. The stif swerd … Persit his cost and breistis cundyt in hy.
1587. Mascall, Govt. Cattle, Sheep (1627), 249. In the condite of the teat.
γ. 1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), I. p. xlv. [The Sea-]hurcheon … havand bot ane conduct to purge thair wambe and ressave thair meit.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. xxxvii. 56. The juyce … openeth the conductes of the nose.
1649. Lovelace, Poems, 56. The sacred conduicts of her Wombe.
4. fig. The channel or medium by which anything (e.g., knowledge, influence, wealth, etc.) is conveyed; = CANAL 7, CHANNEL 8.
α. 1540. Coverdale, Fruitf. Lesson, i. Here are opened the conduits and well-pipes of life, the way of our health.
a. 1600. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., VI. iv. § 15. Conduits of irremediable death to impenitent receivers.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., III. xi. (1695), 290. Language being the great Conduit, whereby Men convey … Knowledge, from one to another.
1737. Waterland, Eucharist, 290. Sacraments are … his appointed Means or Conduits, in and by which He confers his Graces.
1818. Hallam, Mid. Ages (1841), I. iii. 303. These republics … became the conduits through which the produce of the East flowed in.
1878. Morley, J. De Maistre, Crit. Misc. 99. Reaching people through those usual conduits of press and pulpits.
γ. 1651. Jer. Taylor, Clerus Dom., 53. The spirit … running still in the first channels by ordinary conducts.
1670. Moral State Eng., 18. The addresses of the people to their Sovereign … being convey’d through him as a conduct.
5. Arch. † a. gen. A passage (obs.). b. spec. see quot. 1875.
1624. Wotton, Archit., in Reliq. Wotton (1672), 33. Doors, Windows, Stair-cases, Chimnies, or other Conducts.
1703. T. N., City & C. Purch., 7. Apertions.… In Architecture ’tis used to signifie, Doors, Windows, Stair-cases, Chimnies, or other Conducts.
1875. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Conduit (Fr.), a long narrow walled passage underground, for secret communication between different apartments.
† 6. The leading (of water) by a channel. Obs.
1555. Fardle Facions, Pref. 10. Thei deriued into cities … the pure freshe waters … by conduicte of pipes and troughes.
7. Mus. A short connecting passage, a codetta.
1872. H. C. Banister, Music, § 404. By a short passage—Conduit … it [the Motivo] is again returned to.
1880. Ouseley, in Grove, Dict. Mus., I. 568/1. (See COPULA.)
8. Comb., as conduit-cock, -like, -water, adj. or adv.; conduit-head, a reservoir; = CONDUIT 2. also fig.; † conduit-water, spring water; conduit-wise adv. Also CONDUIT-PIPE.
1600. Heywood, 1st Pt. Edw. IV., Wks. 1874, I. 10. We’le take the tankards from the *conduit-cocks To fill with ipocras.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., IV. iii. A fountayne … A noble sprynge, a ryall *conduyte hede.
1607. Dekker, Wh. Babylon, Wks. 1873, II. 244. Conduit-heads of treason.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia (1622), 141. Those saphir-coloured brookes Which *conduit-like with curious crookes, Sweet Ilands make.
1545. Raynold, Byrth Mankynde (1564), 68. Holyoke sodden in *cunduite water.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., II. 28. A glasse of conduit water.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 9. A little chappell made *conduitwise.
