conceit Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun feelings of excessive pride
    self-love; amour propre; vanity.
  2. noun an elaborate poetic image or a far-fetched comparison of very dissimilar things
  3. noun a witty or ingenious turn of phrase
    • he could always come up with some inspired off-the-wall conceit
  4. noun an artistic device or effect
    • the architect's brilliant conceit was to build the house around the tree
  5. noun the trait of being unduly vain and conceited; false pride
    conceitedness; vanity.

WordNet

Con*ceit" noun
Etymology
Through French, fr. L. conceptus a conceiving, conception, fr. concipere to conceive: cf. OF. p. p. nom. conciez conceived. See Conceive, and cf. Concept, Deceit.
Definitions
  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. Bacon.
    A man wise in his own conceit. Prov. xxvi. 12.
  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. Sir P. Sidney.
  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. Shak.
  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. L'Estrange.
    Some to conceit alone their works confine, And glittering thoughts struck out at every line. Pope.
    Tasso is full of conceits . . . which are not only below the dignity of heroic verse but contrary to its nature. Dryden.
  5. An overweening idea of one's self; vanity.
    Plumed with conceit he calls aloud. Cotton.
  6. Design; pattern. Obs. Shak.
Con*ceit" transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To conceive; to imagine. Archaic
    The strong, by conceiting themselves weak, are therebly rendered as inactive . . . as if they really were so. South.
    One of two bad ways you must conceit me, Either a coward or a flatterer. Shak.
Con*ceit" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To form an idea; to think. Obs.
    Those whose . . . vulgar apprehensions conceit but low of matrimonial purposes. Milton.

Webster 1913