Conceit (Hastings' Dictionary)

A c. is something conceived, a thought, as Sir 27' ' The fruit declareth if the tree hate been dres.sed ; so is the utterance of a c. in the heart of man ' (d'OvuL-q^a, RV 'thought') ; 20" AVm 'pleasant conceits' (x^p'Tts, AV 'graces,' RV 'pleasantries'); I'r 18" (RV 'imagination'); Ro 11^ 12" 'wise in your own conceits' (irap faiTois, TR). Though c. is found very early in the sense of self-conceit, that is not its meaning in anj- of the foregoing pa.ssages.

In Ro 1 1™ 12" ' con- ceits' is due to Tindale and Coverdale ('con.saytes'), but they probably meant simply ' opinions,' the word used in 12" by Tindale, Cranmer, and Geneva. (The phi. 'conceits 'is used of more than one person). liut in Pr 26'- "-"28" ('wise in his own c' ; Heb. pv 'ayin, 'eye') the meaning is no doubt the same as in mod. us.age. In Wis 8" c. is used in the ob.sol. sense of ' power of conceiving,' ' mental capacity,' ' I shall be found of a quick c. in judgment' ; cf. Shaks.

As You Like It, v. ii. 48, 'I know you are a gentleman of good conceit'; and Ltu:rcce, 701 — • O deeper Bin than bottomless conceit Can comprehend in still imagination.' J. Hastings.