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Conceit   /kənsˈit/   Listen
noun
Conceit  n.  
1.
That which is conceived, imagined, or formed in the mind; idea; thought; image; conception. "In laughing, there ever procedeth a conceit of somewhat ridiculous." "A man wise in his own conceit."
2.
Faculty of conceiving ideas; mental faculty; apprehension; as, a man of quick conceit. (Obs.) "How often, alas! did her eyes say unto me that they loved! and yet I, not looking for such a matter, had not my conceit open to understand them."
3.
Quickness of apprehension; active imagination; lively fancy. "His wit's as thick as Tewksbury mustard; there's more conceit in him than is in a mallet."
4.
A fanciful, odd, or extravagant notion; a quant fancy; an unnatural or affected conception; a witty thought or turn of expression; a fanciful device; a whim; a quip. "On his way to the gibbet, a freak took him in the head to go off with a conceit." "Some to conceit alone their works confine, And glittering thoughts struck out at every line." "Tasso is full of conceits... which are not only below the dignity of heroic verse but contrary to its nature."
5.
An overweening idea of one's self; vanity. "Plumed with conceit he calls aloud."
6.
Design; pattern. (Obs.)
In conceit with, in accord with; agreeing or conforming.
Out of conceit with, not having a favorable opinion of; not pleased with; as, a man is out of conceit with his dress.
To put (one) out of conceit with, to make one indifferent to a thing, or in a degree displeased with it.



verb
Conceit  v. t.  To conceive; to imagine. (Archaic) "The strong, by conceiting themselves weak, are therebly rendered as inactive... as if they really were so." "One of two bad ways you must conceit me, Either a coward or a flatterer."



Conceit  v. i.  To form an idea; to think. (Obs.) "Those whose... vulgar apprehensions conceit but low of matrimonial purposes."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Conceit" Quotes from Famous Books



... a fact capable of verification, it shows another human trait in animals that one would not expect to find there. Bears seem to show more human nature than most other animals. Bostock says that they evidently love to show off before an audience: "The conceit and good opinion of themselves, which some performing bears have, is absolutely ridiculous." A trainer once trained a young bear to climb a ladder and set free the American flag, and so proud did the bear ...
— The Wit of a Duck and Other Papers • John Burroughs

... great self-conceit to hope one is better company than Maria! But come, before we fall under the dominion of the Queen of the West Wing, I have a secret for you.' Then, after a longer stammer than usual, 'How should you like ...
— Hopes and Fears - scenes from the life of a spinster • Charlotte M. Yonge

... races which are breeding up, or accumulating vital capital,—a descending and an ascending series. Let me give an example of each; and that I may incidentally remove a common impression about this country as compared with the Old World, an impression which got tipsy with conceit and staggered into the attitude of a formal proposition in the work of Dr. Robert Knox, I will illustrate the downward movement from English experience, and the upward movement from a family history belonging to this ...
— Medical Essays • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... name so terrible, we shal find them to haue bin none other then against the barbarous Moores, the naked Indians, and the vnarmed Netherlanders, whose yeelding rather to the name then act of the Spaniards, hath put them into such a conceit of their mightines, as they haue considerately vndertaken the conquest of our monarchie, consisting of a people vnited and always held sufficiently warlike: against whom what successe their inuincible army had the last yeere, as our very children can witness, so I doubt not but ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation, v. 7 - England's Naval Exploits Against Spain • Richard Hakluyt

... kindly, he had less to say on the richness of my fortune than on the faults of my manner and the rustic air of my attire. Yet he bade me go to London, since there a man, rubbing shoulders with all the world, learnt to appraise his own value, and lost the ignorant conceit of himself that a village greatness is apt to breed. Somewhat crestfallen, I thanked him for his kindness, and made bold ...
— Simon Dale • Anthony Hope


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