Con·ceive v. t. [imp. & p. p. Conceived p. pr. & vb. n. Conceiving.]
1. To receive into the womb and begin to breed; to begin the formation of the embryo of.
She hath also conceived a son in her old age. --Luke i. 36.
2. To form in the mind; to plan; to devise; to generate; to originate; as, to conceive a purpose, plan, hope.
It was among the ruins of the Capitol that I first conceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised near twenty years of my life. --Gibbon.
Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. --Is. lix. 13.
3. To apprehend by reason or imagination; to take into the mind; to know; to imagine; to comprehend; to understand. “I conceive you.”
O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart
Cannot conceive nor name thee! --Shak.
You will hardly conceive him to have been bred in the same climate. --Swift.
Syn: -- To apprehend; imagine; suppose; understand; comprehend; believe; think.