[ad. L. conflāt-us, pa. pple. of conflāre: see next.]
† 1. pa. pple. Blown together; brought together from various sources, composed of various elements.
1541. Paynell, Catiline, lvii. 81. They [Catiline’s army] be conflate or gathered togyther of three kyndes of men.
1633. T. Adams, Exp. 2 Peter ii. 10. To walk after the flesh, is an addiction to sin, conflate of many lusts.
1638. T. Whitaker, Blood of Grape, 14. Wine hath a double heat, or one conflate or moved out of two.
2. adj.
1587. Mirr. Mag. (1610), 24. Methought no ladie else so high renownd That might haue causde me change my conflate minde [ed. 1575 ever change my mind].
3. spec. Formed by combination or fusion of two readings. (See quot. 1881 and CONFLATION 3.)
1881. Westcott & Hort, Grk. N. T., Introd. 49. Readings which are … mixed or, as they are sometimes called, ‘conflate,’ that is, not simple substitutions of the reading of one document for that of another, but combinations of the readings of both documents into a composite whole, sometimes by mere addition with or without a conjunction, sometimes with more or less of fusion.
1883. Westcott, Ep. St. John, Introd. 22. The variants offer good examples of conflate readings.
1885. J. R. Harris, in Amer. Jrnl. Philol., VI. 36. How did one element of a conflate text arise out of the other?
transf. 1887. Jessopp, in 19th Cent., March, 362. He has a sort of conflate expression upon his countenance; his face is as a hybrid flower where two beauties blend.
