convert

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Jesuits did not persuade the converts to lay aside the use of images. Bp. Stillingfleet. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To be turned or changed in character or direction; to undergo a change, physically or morally. [ 1913 Webster ]

If Nebo had had the preaching that thou hast, they [ the Neboites ] would have converted. Latimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

A red dust which converth into worms. Sandys. [ 1913 Webster ]

The public hope
And eye to thee converting. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. spiritually reborn or converted; as, a converted sinner.
Syn. -- born-again, reborn. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. convertenus to be converted. ] (Logic) Any proposition which is subject to the process of conversion; -- so called in its relation to itself as converted, after which process it is termed the converse. See Converse, n. (Logic). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who converts; one who makes converts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Steel Manuf.) A retort, used in the Bessemer process, in which molten cast iron is decarburized and converted into steel by a blast of air forced through the liquid metal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The condition or quality of being convertible; capability of being exchanged; convertibleness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mutual convertibility of land into money, and of money into land. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. convertibilis: cf. F. convertible. ] 1. Capable of being converted; susceptible of change; transmutable; transformable. [ 1913 Webster ]

Minerals are not convertible into another species, though of the same genus. Harvey. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Capable of being exchanged or interchanged; reciprocal; interchangeable. [ 1913 Webster ]

So long as we are in the regions of nature, miraculous and improbable, miraculous and incredible, may be allowed to remain convertible terms. Trench. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being convertible; convertibility. [ 1913 Webster ]