Con*cep"tion (?), n. [F.
conception, L. conceptio, fr. concipere to
conceive. See Conceive.] 1. The act
of conceiving in the womb; the initiation of an embryonic animal
life.
I will greaty multiply thy sorrow and thy
conception.
Gen. iii. 16.
2. The state of being conceived;
beginning.
Joy had the like conception in our
eyes.
Shak.
3. The power or faculty of apprehending
of forming an idea in the mind; the power of recalling a past
sensation or perception.
Under the article of conception, I shall
confine myself to that faculty whose province it is to enable us
to form a notion of our past sensations, or of the objects of
sense that we have formerly perceived.
Stewart.
4. The formation in the mind of an image,
idea, or notion, apprehension.
Conception consists in a conscious act of
the understanding, bringing any given object or impression into
the same class with any number of other objects or impression, by
means of some character or characters common to them all.
Coleridge.
5. The image, idea, or notion of any
action or thing which is formed in the mind; a concept; a notion;
a universal; the product of a rational belief or judgment. See
Concept.
He [Herodotus] says that the sun draws or attracts
the water; a metaphorical term obviously intended to denote some
more general and abstract conception than that of the
visible operation which the word primarily signifies.
Whewell.
6. Idea; purpose; design.
Note this dangerous conception.
Shak.
7. Conceit; affected sentiment or
thought. [Obs.]
He . . . is full of conceptions, points of
epigram, and witticism.
Dryden.
Syn. -- Idea; notion; perception; apprehemsion;
comprehension.
