v. [a. F. conspire-r (15th c. in Littré) (= Pr. cospirar, Sp. conspirar, It. conspirare), ad. L. conspīrāre lit. ‘to breathe together,’ whence, ‘to accord, harmonize, agree, combine or unite in a purpose, plot mischief together secretly.’]
1. intr. To combine privily for an evil or unlawful purpose; to agree together to do something criminal, illegal, or reprehensible (esp. to commit treason or murder, excite sedition, etc.); to plot. Const. with, against, to do something, † that.
1382. Wyclif, John ix. 22. The Iewis hadden conspirid, that if ony man knowlechide him Crist, he schulde be don out of the synagoge.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prioress’ T., 113. The Iewes have conspired This innocent out of this world to enchace.
a. 1400[?]. Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.), II. 12. Syr Cayphas & his companye Conspirne Jesus to anoye.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., I. ii. 9. Brute founde many Troyans … with the whiche he conspyred.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 89 b. Whiche confedered togyder hath conspyred to destroye our soules.
1602. Rowlands, Greene’s Ghost, 32. They conspired how to make a breach in his pocket.
1611. Bible, Gen. xxxvii. 18. They conspired against him, to slay him.
1671. Milton, Samson, 892. An impious crew Of men conspiring to uphold their state By worse than hostile deeds.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, III. 94. When kingly power conspired with papal craft To plot and perpetrate that massacre.
1848. Lytton, Harold, II. ii. Princes conspire against me.
† b. Said of a single person (the notion of combination being lost sight of): To plot secretly, contrive. Obs.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 232. Within his herte he gan conspire.
1480. Robt. Devyll, 27. Thus then he conspyred in hys wyll One after another for to kyll.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., x. For thou art so possess’d with murderous hate That ’gainst thyself thou stick’st not to conspire. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., V. i. 70. But to be Menelaus, I would conspire against Destiny.
2. trans. To plot, plan, devise, contrive (a criminal, evil, or hostile action).
a. with the end or purpose as obj.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. XI. 19. Þat conterfeteþ disseites and Conspiret wronges. Ibid. (1377), B. X. 423. Dauid þat Vries deth conspired.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., IV. lxiii. 43. The Countree waxed wery of hym, & conspyrid his deth.
1597. Daniel, Civ. Wares, V. i. The whil’st victorious Henry did conspire The wracke of Fraunce.
1681. E. Sclater, Serm. at Putney, 17. That conspire the subversion of Throne and Altar.
1725–6. Pope, Odyss., XVI. 464. Thus smooth he ended, yet his death conspir’d.
1805. Southey, Madoc in Azt., iv. Your fall and mine do they alike conspire.
b. with the action as obj.
1503–4. Act 19 Hen. VII., c. 34, Preamb. By dyvers feetis betwen theym conseyved and conspired.
1579. Fenton, Guicciard. (1618), 6. Conspire against him most dangerous enterprises.
1857. S. Osborn, Quedah, ii. 23. The present attack had been patiently conspired and prearranged at Malacca.
† c. pass. with clause. Obs.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 81. Sinon, whiche made was here espie Withinne Troie, as was conspired.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), II. 486. Yt ys conspyryd to reward thy falsnes.
3. intr. To combine in action or aim; to act in purposive combination, union, or harmony.
1538. Starkey, England, I. i. 19. The cyvyle lyfe ys a polytyke ordur of men conspyryng togyddur in vertue and honesty.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 239. The Stour assisted by other streams that conspire with it.
1657. J. Smith, Myst. Rhet., 350. Therefore must your labour conspire with my inventions.
a. 1711. Ken, Hymns Festiv., Poet. Wks. 1721, I. 383. How God’s converting Calls conspire With our Free-Wills, fond Men enquire?
a. 1763. J. Byrom, Hymn ‘Christians awake,’ iii. Th’ angelic choir In songs of joy before unknown conspire.
1829. K. Digby, Broadst. Hon., I. 251. When we reflect … upon the jarring interests which are to be made to conspire.
1869. Tyndall, Notes on Light, § 479. The waves conspire or oppose each other according as their vibrations are in the same phase or in opposite phases.
b. To combine, concur, co-operate as by intention (so as to effect a certain result).
It ranges from what is explicitly fig. of 1 to a sense quite distinct from it.
1575. Laneham, Lett. (1871), 43. Consider, how fully the Gods (az it seemed) had conspyred … too bestow theyr influencez & gyfts vpon her coourt.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath. (1839), 376. The writers … conspire to one and the same end, which is setting forth of the rights of the kingdom of God.
1670. Dryden, Tyrannic Love, Ded. All the Advantages of Mind and Body, and an Illustrious Birth, conspiring to render you an extraordinary Person.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 397. The Singers and Dancers could not conspire together into one Dance and Harmony, were they destitute of a Coryphæus.
a. 1711. Ken, Div. Love, Wks. (1838), 230. Thou dost … dispose all things … to conspire in thy glory.
1713. Guardian, No. 135. All things conspire to make his sick bed grievous and uneasy.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, II. viii. All things conspired to give her the sense of freedom and solitude.
c. To combine as factors in (a product). poet.
1716. Addison, Poems Sev. Occas. O England’s younger hope! in whom conspire The mother’s sweetness, and the father’s fire!
1888. Burgon, Lives 12 Gd. Men, II. v. 1. In [him] … there conspired certain personal gifts of an altogether unique order.
† 4. To concur or agree in spirit, sentiment, sense, tenor, testimony, assertion, etc. Obs.
1579. E. K., Gloss. Spenser’s Sheph. Cal., Oct., 21. This place seemeth to conspyre with Plato.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. i. § 9 (1622), 197. The Apostle … doth fully conspire and agree with the Prophet.
1699. Bentley, Phal., iii. 85. All these Accounts, conspiring so together, make it certain.
1723. Pope, Lett. to Digby, 10 Oct. I conspire in your sentiments … wish for your company.
1737. Whiston, Josephus’ Antiq., Diss. i. Josephus … conspires in his testimony with what is written in the Gospels.
† 5. trans. To unite in producing; to concur to.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, VII. x. (1614), 702. Their blacke skinnes, white eyes, and cauterised ma[r]kes seem to conspire a dreadfull and gastly deformitie in their faces.
1650. Baxter, Saints’ R., I. vii. (1662), 104. All things … with us conspire the high praises of our great Deliverer.
1669. W. Simpson, Hydrol. Chym., 114. All which conspire the restitution of the integrity of health.
† 6. It occurs with some reference to the etymological sense ‘breathe or blow together,’ though scarcely as an independent meaning.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), II. 23. Saule ys my name … whych conspyreth the dyscyplys with thretes and menaces [cf. Acts ix. 1].
1861. Temple & Trevor, Tannhäuser, 74. The buffeting gusts … conspire Conflicting breaths.
