Con*vert" (?), v. t. [imp.
& p. p. Converted; p. pr. & vb.
n. Converting.] [L. convertere, -
versum; con- + vertere to turn: cf. F.
convertir. See Verse.] 1. To
cause to turn; to turn. [Obs.]
O, which way shall I first convert
myself?
B. Jonson.
2. To change or turn from one state or
condition to another; to alter in form, substance, or quality; to
transform; to transmute; as, to convert water into
ice.
If the whole atmosphere were converted into
water.
T. Burnet.
That still lessens
The sorrow, and converts it nigh to joy.
Milton.
3. To change or turn from one belief or
course to another, as from one religion to another or from one
party or sect to another.
No attempt was made to convert the
Moslems.
Prescott.
4. To produce the spiritual change called
conversion in (any one); to turn from a bad life to a good one;
to change the heart and moral character of (any one) from the
controlling power of sin to that of holiness.
He which converteth the sinner from the
error of his way shall save a soul from death.
Lames v. 20.
5. To apply to any use by a diversion
from the proper or intended use; to appropriate dishonestly or
illegally.
When a bystander took a coin to get it changed,
and converted it, [it was] held no larceny.
Cooley.
6. To exchange for some specified
equivalent; as, to convert goods into money.
7. (Logic) To change (one
proposition) into another, so that what was the subject of the
first becomes the predicate of the second.
8. To turn into another language; to
translate. [Obs.]
Which story . . . Catullus more elegantly
converted.
B. Jonson.
Converted guns, cast-iron guns lined
with wrought-iron or steel tubes. Farrow. --
Converting furnace (Steel Manuf.), a
furnace in which wrought iron is converted into steel by
cementation.
Syn. -- To change; turn; transmute; appropriate.
Con*vert", v. i. To be turned
or changed in character or direction; to undergo a change,
physically or morally.
If Nebo had had the preaching that thou hast, they
[the Neboites] would have converted.
Latimer.
A red dust which converth into worms.
Sandys.
The public hope
And eye to thee converting.
Thomson.
Con"vert (?), n. 1.
A person who is converted from one opinion or practice to
another; a person who is won over to, or heartily embraces, a
creed, religious system, or party, in which he has not previously
believed; especially, one who turns from the controlling power of
sin to that of holiness, or from unbelief to
Christianity.
The Jesuits did not persuade the converts
to lay aside the use of images.
Bp. Stillingfleet.
2. A lay friar or brother, permitted to
enter a monastery for the service of the house, but without
orders, and not allowed to sing in the choir.
Syn. -- Proselyte; neophyte. -- Convert,
Proselyte, Pervert. A convert is one who
turns from what he believes to have been a decided error of faith
or practice. Such a change may relate to religion, politics, or
other subjects. properly considered, it is not confined to
speculation alone, but affects the whole current of one's
feelings and the tenor of his actions. As such a change carries
with it the appearance of sincerity, the term convert is
usually taken in a good sense. Proselyte is a term of more
ambiguous use and application. It was first applied to an
adherent of one religious system who had transferred himself
externally to some other religious system; and is also applied to
one who makes a similar transfer in respect to systems of
philosophy or speculation. The term has little or no reference to
the state of the heart. Pervert is a term of recent
origin, designed to express the contrary of convert, and
to stigmatize a person as drawn off perverted from the true
faith. It has been more particulary applied by members of the
Church of England to those who have joined the Roman Catholic
Church.
