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The use of concetti or affected conceits. [R.] C. Kingsley.

Affected wit; a conceit. Chesterfield.

To encourage; to favor; to approve; to aid; to abet. This conceit, though countenanced by learned men, is not made out either by experience or reason. Sir T. Browne. Error supports custom, custom countenances error. Milton.

A vain, showy fellow; a conceited, silly man, fond of display; a superficial pretender to knowledge or accomplishments; a fop. Fond to be seen, she kept a bevy Of powdered coxcombs at her levee. Goldsmith. Some are bewildered in the maze of schools, And some made coxcombs, nature meant but fools. Pope.…

Befitting or indicating a coxcomb; like a coxcomb; foppish; conceited. -- Cox*comb"ic*al*ly, adv. Studded all over in coxcombical fashion with little brass nails. W. Irving.

Conceitedly. [R.]

A twist or turn in speech; a conceit consisting in a change of the form or meaning of a word. Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles. Milton.

A perverse fancy; a whim which takes possession of the mind; a conceit. He ruined himself and all that trusted in him by crotchets that he could never explain to any rational man. De Quincey.

To be distasteful; to taste ill or disagreeable. [Obs.] Dangerous conceits are, in their natures, poisons, Which at the are scarce found to distaste. Shak.

A visionary scheme; a wild conceit; an idle fancy; a vagary; a revery; -- in this sense, applied to an imaginary or anticipated state of happiness; as, a dream of bliss; the dream of his youth. There sober thought pursued the amusing theme, Till Fancy colored it and formed a dream. Pope. It is not them a mere dream, bu…

t Her infant's thrilling kiss. Keble. A crowd of eager and curious schoolboys. Hawthorne. Conceit and grief an eager combat fight. Shak.

To give boldness or courage to; to encourage. Shak. The self-conceit which emboldened him to undertake this dangerous office. Sir W. Scott.

Inspiration as if by a divine or superhuman power; ecstasy; hence, a conceit of divine possession and revelation, or of being directly subject to some divine impulse. Enthusiasm is founded neither on reason nor divine revelation, but rises from the conceits of a warmed or overweening imagination. Locke.…

to a class of writers, in the age of Elizabeth, whose productions are marked by affected conceits and high-flown diction.

Witty or humorous writings or saying; witticisms; merry conceits.

An image or representation of anything formed in the mind; conception; thought; idea; conceit. How now, my lord ! why do you keep alone, Of sorriest fancies your companoins making Shak.

Beclouded; dull; obscure; as, foggy ideas. Your coarse, foggy, drowsy conceit. Hayward.

Anything vaporlike, unsubstantial, or' airy; idle conceit; vain imagination. A show of fumes and fancies. Bacon.

Inflated, as with conceit.

n; inclined to hope; expectant. Men of their own natural inclination hopeful and strongly conceited. Hooker.