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Having the power to compel conviction or move the will; constraining; conclusive; forcible; powerful; not easily reasisted. No better nor more cogent reason. Dr. H. More. Proofs of the most cogent description. Tyndall. The tongue whose strains were cogent as commands, Revered at home, and felt in foreign lands. Cowper.…

To declare the guilt of; to make manifest the faults or unworthiness of; to convict of guilt. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it. Matt. xii. 42.

The estimate or determination of conscience; conviction or right or duty. Conscience supposes the existence of some such [i.e., moral] faculty, and properly signifies our consciousness of having acted agreeably or contrary to its directions. Adam Smith.

The system of employing convicts by selling their labor (to be performed inside the prison) at a fixed price per day to contractors who are allowed to have agents in the prison to superintend the work.

A spiritual and moral change attending a change of belief with conviction; a change of heart; a change from the service of the world to the service of God; a change of the ruling disposition of the soul, involving a transformation of the outward life. He oft Frequented their assemblies, . . . and to them preached Conve…

Act of convincing, or state of being convinced; conviction. [R.] The fear of a convincement. Milton.

o criminal process. Hallam. Criminal action (Law), an action or suit instituted to secure conviction and punishment for a crime. -- Criminal conversation (Law), unlawful intercourse with a married woman; adultery; -- usually abbreviated, crim. con. -- Criminal law, the law which relates to crimes.

Hair cut close or short, or the act or style of so cutting; as, a convict's crop.

natory plea (O. Eng. Law), the plea of sanctuary or of benefit of clergy, before trial or conviction; -- now abolished.

; purpose; conclusion formed; fixed resolution. So bloodthirsty a determination to obtain convictions. Hallam.

That which disqualifies; that which incapacitates or makes unfit; as, conviction of crime is a disqualification of a person for office; sickness is a disqualification for labor. I must still retain the consciousness of those disqualifications which you have been pleased to overlook. Sir J. Shore.

power, right, or privilege, by positive restriction; to disable; to debar legally; as, a conviction of perjury disqualifies a man to be a witness.

rade, so that on the latter there can be an acquittal, while on the former there can be a conviction. -- Di*vis"i*ble*ness, n. -- Di*vis"i*bly, adv.

An overseer of a gang of slaves or gang of convicts at their work.

ffectual calling (Theol.), a doctrine concerning the work of the Holy Spirit in producing conviction of sin and acceptance of salvation by Christ, -- one of the five points of Calvinism. See Calvinism.

emotions in striking and appropriate language either spoken or written, thereby producing conviction or persuasion. Eloquence is speaking out . . . out of the abundance of the heart. Hare.

A freed convict. [Australia]

ce, or is out of the office or condition now; as, ex-president, ex-governor, ex-mayor, ex-convict. The Greek form 'ex becomes ex in English, as in exarch; 'ek becomes ec, as in eccentric.

A body of felons; specifically, the convict population of a penal colony. Howitt.

light up, as by a sudden flame or light; as, to flash a message along the wires; to flash conviction on the mind.