conceivableness (konsevablnes)

The quality of being conceivable; conceivability. H. Spencer. conceivably (kon-sē'va-bli), adv. In a conceivable, supposable, or intelligible manner; po ibly. conceive (kon-sēv'), v.; pret. and pp. conceived, ppr. conceiving. [Early mod. E. also conceeve, conceyve, ceive. Write not what cannot be with ease conceiv'd ; Some truths may be too strong to be believ'd. Dryden, Art of Poetry, iii. 475. When we do our utmost to conceive the existence of ex ternal bodies, we are all the while only contemplating our own ideas. But the mind, taking no notice of itself, is deluded to think it can and doth conceive bodies existing unthought-of or without the mind; though at the same time they are apprehended by or exist in itself. Bp. Berkeley, Human Knowledge, § 23. To conceive a round square, or to conceive a body all black and yet all white, would only be to conceive two different sensations as produced in us simultaneously by the same object: a conception familiar to our experience; and we should probably be as well able to conceive a round square as a hard square, or a heavy square, if it were not that, in our uniform experience, at the instant when a thing begins to be round it ceases to be square, so that the beginning of the one impre ion is inseparably a ociated with the departure or ce ation of the other. J. S. Mill . 1161 We cannot conceive an individual without in the same act implying a cla to which it belongs, and a larger cla from which it is distinguished. G. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, II. ii. § 14. Among South American tribes, too, we find evidence that the second life is conceived as an unvaried continua tion of the first. H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., § 101. 2. To form as a general notion in the mind; represent in a general notion or conception in the mind; hence, design; plan; devise. Nebuchadrezzar... hath conceived a purpose against What he is, indeed, More suits you to conceive, than I to speak of. Shak., As you Like it, i. 2. you. Jer. xlix. 30. The Thought of the Golden Compa es is conceiv'd altogether in Homer's Spirit, and is a very noble Incident in this wonderful Description. Add is on , Spectator, No. 339. It was among the ruins of the Capitol that I first con ceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised near twenty years of my life. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, lxxi. 3. To hold as an opinion; think; suppose; believe. When we would expre our opinion modestly, instead of saying, "This is my opinion," or "This is my judgment," which has the air of dogmaticalne , we say, "I conceive it to be thus-I imagine or apprehend it to be thus"-which is understood as a modest declaration of our judgment. Reid , Intellectual Powers, p. 19. There are persons who act mainly from self-interest at times when they conceive they are doing generous or virtuous actions. J. H. Newman , Parochial Sermons, i. 44. 4. To admit into the mind; have a sense or impre ion of; feel; experience. To stop up the displeasure he hath conceived against your son, there is no fitter matter. Shak ., All's Well, iv. 5. Conceive. Such a pleasure as incaged birds Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iv. 6. 5. To formulate in words; expre : as, he received a letter conceived in the following terms. That an accion of dette be mayntend ayenst hur, to be conceyved after the custom of the seid cite. English Gilds (E. E. T. S), p. 382. concentrated 2. Consistency; accordance. Abram (saith Master Brought on in his Concent [of Scriptures]) was borne sixtie yeeres later then the common account. Purchas , Pilgrimage, p. 108. Bp . Atterbury . In concent to his own principles. concentt (kon-sent'), v. t. [ Such Musicke is wise words, with time concented . Spenser, F. Q., IV. ii. 2. concenter, concentre (kon-sen'ter), v.; pret. and pp. concentered , concentred , ppr.concentering , concentring. [= D. concentre ren = G. concentri ren = Dan. koncentrere = Sw. koncentrera , entrer =Sp. Pg.concentrar =It.concent rare, ... That Providence who accidents into his own glory. concentres all the variety of Jer. Taylor , Works (ed. 1835), Ι. 274. My breast Concentres all the terrors of the Universe. Words worth, The Borderers, ii. By no other intellectua' application is the soul thus reflected on itself, and its faculties concentred in such independent, vigorous, unwonted, and continuous energy. Sir W. Hamilton , The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown. Scott, L. of L. M., Int. to vi. II. in trans. To converge to or meet in a common center; combine or conjoin in one object; center; focus. God, in whom all perfections concentre. Bp. Beveridge, Sermons, I. xii.