*conception*

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

I will greaty multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. Gen. iii. 16. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being conceived; beginning. [ 1913 Webster ]

Joy had the like conception in our eyes. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The power or faculty of apprehending of forming an idea in the mind; the power of recalling a past sensation or perception. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The formation in the mind of an image, idea, or notion, apprehension. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Idea; purpose; design. [ 1913 Webster ]

Note this dangerous conception. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Conceit; affected sentiment or thought. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He . . . is full of conceptions, points of epigram, and witticism. Dryden.

Syn. -- Idea; notion; perception; apprehemsion; comprehension. [ 1913 Webster ]