conceal 
2. To keep close or secret ; forbear to dis- 
close or divulge ; withhold from utterance or 
declaration: as, to conceal one's thoughts or 
opinions. 
I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. 
Job vi. 10. 
My gracious lord, that which I would discover 
The law of friendship bids me to conceal. 
Shak., T. G. of V., iii. 1. 
The absolute dependent of a despotic will is more apt to 
ffnicfnl than express the real emotions of his heart towards 
that will. //. James, Hubs, and Shad., p. 164. 
Concealed land. Same as concealment, 5. 
I will after him, 
And search him like conceal'd land, but I'll have him. 
Fletcher (and another), Love's Pilgrimage, iii. 3. 
= Syn. Conceal, Hide, Secrete, screen, cover, cloak, dis- 
guise, dissemble. To conceal and to hide may be to put 
or keep out of sight, literally or figuratively ; to secrete is 
to put out of sight literally. Conceal implies least of ac- 
tion, and hide less than secrete. Conceal and hide may be 
used by a sort of personification where secrete could not 
be employed : as, a cave concealed by bushes ; a cottage 
hidden amid woods. See dissemble. 
Gold may be so concealed in baser matter that only a 
chemist can recover it. Johnson, Cowley. 
Therefore hid I my face from them. Ezek. xxxix. 23. 
The hidden soul of harmony. Milton, L' Allegro, 1. 144. 
concealable (kon-se'la-bl), a. [< conceal + 
-able.] Capable of being concealed, hidden, or 
kept secret. 
The omnisciency of God, whereunto there is nothing 
concealable. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., i. 2. 
concealed (kon-seld'),_p. a. [Pp. of conceal, v.~] 
Hidden ; secret : specifically, in entom., said of 
parts which are hidden by the parts behind 
them, as the head when the borders of the 
thorax overlap it so that it cannot be seen from 
above. 
concealedly (kon-se'led-li), adv. Inaconcealed, 
concealing, or clandestine manner; secretly; 
so as not to be discovered or detected. 
Worldly lusts and interests slily creep in, and canceal- 
edlij work in their hearts. 
Bp. Gawden, Hieraspistes, p. 379. 
concealeclness (kon-se'led-nes), n. The state 
of being concealed. Johnson. 
concealer (kon-se'ler), n. 1. One who conceals. 
The concealer of the crime was equally guilty. 
Clarendon. 
2f. A person formerly employed in England to 
find out concealed lands that is, lands privily 
kept from the king by persons having nothing 
to show for their title to them. 
concealment (kon-seVment), n. [< ME. con- 
celement, < OF. concelement (of. Pr. celamen = 
Pg. calamento = It. celamento), < conceler, con- 
ceal : see conceal and -ment.~\ 1. The act of con- 
cealing, hiding, or keeping secret. 
She never told her love, 
But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, 
Feed on her damask cheek. Shak., T. N., ii. 4. 
2. Specifically, in law, the intentional suppres- 
sion of truth, to the injury or prejudice of an- 
other. 
I shall not assent to destry ner do no councelement of 
the kynges rightes, nor of his fraunchises. 
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 416. 
3. The state of being concealed or withdrawn 
from observation; privacy; retreat. 
Some dear cause 
Will in concealment wrap me up awhile. 
Shak., Lear, iv. 3. 
4. Shelter from observation ; protection from 
discovery ; a place or means of such shelter or 
protection : as, his only concealment was an 
arbor of boughs. 
The cleft tree 
Offers its kind concealment to a few, 
Their food its insects, and its moss their nests. 
Thomson, Spring, 1. 640. 
5. In Eng. hist., property, as land, the owner- 
ship of which was concealed from the commis- 
sioners for the dissolution of monasteries, etc., 
at the time of the Reformation. Also called 
concealed land. 
Their penance, sir, I'll undertake, so please you 
To grant me one concealment. 
Beau, and Fl. , Honest Man's Fortune, v. 3. 
6t. Secret knowledge ; a secret ; mystery. 
He is a worthy gentleman ; 
Exceedingly well read, and profited 
In strange concealments. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iii. 1. 
= Syn. 3 and 4. Secrecy, hiding, hiding-place, retreat, dis- 
guise. 
concede (kon-sed'), . ; pret. and pp. conceded, 
ppr. conceding. [= F. conceder = Sp. Pg. con- 
ceder = It. concedere, < L. concedere, pp. conces- 
1160 
SMS, go with, give way, yield, grant, < com-, with, 
+ cedere, go, cede, grant: see cede. Hence con- 
cession, etc.] I. trans. 1. To make a conces- 
sion of; grant as a right or a privilege; yield 
up; allow: as, the government conceded the 
franchise to a foreign syndicate. 
He conceded many privileges to the people. 
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 26. 
2. To admit as true, just, or proper; admit; 
grant; acquiesce in, either by direct assent or 
by silent acceptance. See concession. 
Assumed as a principle to prove another thing which is 
not conceded as true itself. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. KIT., i. 4. 
We concede that self-love is the strongest and most 
natural love of man. Heunft, Sermons, p. 93. 
Conceding for a moment that the government is bound 
to educate a man's children, then, what kind of logic will 
demonstrate that it is not bound to feed and clothe them ? 
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 362. 
In order to shake him [the Spanish beggar] off you are 
obliged to concede his quality. 
T. B. Aldrich, Ponkapog to Pesth, p. 48. 
II. intrans. To make concession ; grant a 
petition, or accept a disputed or disputable 
point ; yield ; admit. 
I wished you to concede to America at a time when she 
prayed concession at your feet. Burke, Speech at Bristol. 
concededly (kon-se'ded-li), adv. As admitted 
or conceded. 
The higher rate of speed, which not only cuts faster, 
but, in the case of the vulcanite emery wheel, prolongs 
the life of the wheel, is concededly safe with the vulcanite 
wheel. Sri. Amer., N. S., LVI. 130. 
COncedence (kon - se ' dens), w. [< concede + 
-ence.] The 'act of conceding; concession. 
[Rare.] 
All I had to apprehend was that a daughter so reluc- 
tantly carried off would offer terms to her father, and 
would be accepted upon a mutual concedence : they to give 
xip Solmes, she to give up me. 
Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, iii. 116. 
conceder (kon-se'der), n. One who concedes, 
conceiptt, n~ and v. An obsolete spelling of 
conceit. 
I have a part allotted mee which I have neither able 
apprehension to conceipt, nor what I conceipt gratious 
abilitie to utter. Marston, Antonio and Mellida, Ind., p. B. 
conceit (kon-sef), n. [Early mod. E. also con- 
ceyt, consayt, also, as rarely in late ME., conceipt, 
conceipte (with p inserted in imitation of the 
orig. L. conceptus): < ME. conceit, conseit, con- 
ceyte, conseytc, < OF. 'conceit (not found), later 
also concept = Sp. concepto = Pg. conceito = It. 
concetto,^. L. conceptus, a collecting, taking, con- 
ceiving, a thought, purpose (whence directly E. 
concept, q. v.), < concipere, pp. conceptus, take 
in, conceive : see conceive, and of. concept, con- 
cetto, doublets of conceit. For the form, cf. de- 
ceit, reeeit, the three forms being also spelled, 
corruptly, conceipt, deceipt, receipt, the last be- 
ing now the current form.] If. That which is 
conceived, imagined, or formed in the mind ; 
conception; idea; thought; image. 
In laughing there ever precedeth a conceit of somewhat 
ridiculous, and therefore it is proper to man. 
Bacon, Nat. Hist. 
I do feel conceits coming upon me, more than I am able 
to turn tongue to. B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, i. 1. 
The Conceit of Honour is a great Encouragement to 
Virtue. Ilowell, Letters, iv. 36. 
2f. The faculty of conceiving ; understanding ; 
apprehension. 
His wit is as thick as Tewksbury mustard ; there is no 
more conceit in him than is in a mallet. 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 
How often did her eyes say to me that they loved ! yet 
I, not looking for such a matter, had not my conceit open 
to understand them. Sir P. Sidney. 
S. Opinion ; estimation ; view or belief. [Ar- 
chaic.] 
Being in the meane time well vsed, upon conceit that 
the King would like well of their comming. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 385. 
Seest thoxi a man wise in his own conceit ? there is more 
hope of a fool than of him. Prov. xxvi. 12. 
A conceit there is, that the devil commonly appeareth 
with a cloven hoof. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. EXT., v. 23. 
4. An undue opinion; a baseless fancy; a 
crotchety notion. 
The form which this conceit usually assumes is that of 
supposing that nature lends more assistance to human 
endeavours in agriculture than in manufactixres. 
J. S. Mill, Pol. Econ., i. 1. 
The danger is, that they will be too much elated by 
flattery, and at last seriously entertain the conceit that 
they are great poets. Whipple, Ess. and Rev., I. 37. 
5. An exaggerated estimate of one's own men- 
tal ability, or of the importance or value of 
what one has done ; an overvaluation of one's 
conceited 
own acuteness, wit, learning, etc. ; self-con- 
ceit: as, a man inflated with conceit. 
Plumed with conceit. Cotton, Fable. 
So spake he, clouded with his own conceit. 
Tennyson, Morte d Arthur. 
Our vanities differ as our noses do : all conceit is not the 
same conceit, but varies in correspondence with the minu- 
tire of mental make in which one of us differs from an- 
other. George Kliut. Middlemarch, I. 165. 
6. A witty, happy, or ingenious thought or ex- 
pression ; a quaint or humorous fancy ; wit ; hu- 
mor; ingenuity; especially, in modern usage, 
a quaint or odd thought; a thought or expres- 
sion intended to be striking or poetical, but 
rather far-fetched, insipid, or pedantic. 
Others of a more fine and pleasant head ... in short 
jwemes vttered pretie merry conceit*, and these men were 
called Epigrammatistes. 
1'i/ltrnhain, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 20. 
The eloquence of the bar, the pulpit, and the council- 
board was deformed by conceit* which would have dis- 
graced the rhyming shepherds of an Italian academy. 
Macaulay, Dryden. 
7f. A fanciful or ingenious device or invention. 
Neuer carde, for silks or sumpteous cost, 
For cloth of gold, or tinsel flgurie, 
For Baudkin, broydrie, cutworks, nor conc.eitx. 
Gascoi'jne, Steele Glas (ed. Arber), p. 71. 
Bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits, 
Knacks, trifles. Shak., M. N. D., i. 1. 
8f. A trifle ; a dainty ; a kickshaw. 
And if your Mayster will haue any conc.ei.tes after din- 
ner, as appels, Nuts, or creame, then lay forth a Towell 
on the boord. liabees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 68. 
Out of conceit (with a thing or person), not having a 
favorable opinion ; no longer pleased : followed by with. 
He would fain bring us out of conceit u-ith the good suc- 
cess which God hath voutsaf'd us. 
Milton, Eikonoklastes, xxviii. 
Let these trifles put us out of conceit imth petty com- 
forts. Emerson, Conduct of Life. 
= Syn. 4. Vagary, whim, illusion. 6. Pride, Vanity, etc. 
(see egotism), self-sufficiency, self-complacency. 
conceit (kon-sef), [< conceit, n.'] I. trans. 
1 . To conceive ; imagine ; think ; suppose ; form 
an idea of. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
One of two bad ways you must conceit me, 
Either a coward or a flatterer. Shak., J. C., iii. 1. 
Men conceit to themselves that their reason hath the 
mastery over their words, but it happens too that words 
react and influence the understanding. Bacnn. 
There are as many hells as Anaxarchus conceited worlds. 
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, i. 51. 
. Our ancestors were not such fools, after all, as we, their 
degenerate children, conceit them to have been. 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 259. 
2. Keflexively, to imagine; fancy; think; be- 
lieve: implying error. [Rare.] 
We conceit ourselves that we contemplate absolute exis- 
tence when we only speculate absolute privation. 
Sir W. Hamilton. 
As little reason have we to conceit ourselves that our 
progeny will be satisfied with our English, as the subjects 
of the Heptarchy would have had for conceiting themselves 
that their Saxon would supply the necessities of us their 
descendants. F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 18. 
3f. To cause to imagine. 
To plague the Palatine with jealousy, 
And to conceit him with some deep extreme. 
Greene, Orlando Furioso. 
Il.t intrans. To form a notion ; have an opin- 
ion ; conceive. 
Those whose vulgar apprehensions conceit but low of 
matrimonial purposes. Milton. 
conceited (kon-se'ted), a. [< conceit, n., + -ed?.] 
If. Endowed with or characterized by fancy or 
imagination; ingenious; witty. 
Conceited masques, rich banquets. Drayton. 
An admirable-conceited fellow. Shak., \V. T., iv. 3. 
2f. Ingeniously or curiously contrived; fanci- 
ful. 
A very pretty fashion, believe me, and a most novel kind 
of trim : your band is conceited too ! 
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, i. 1. 
A conceited chair to sleep in. Evelyn. 
3. Entertaining an exaggerated opinion of one's 
own abilities, wisdom, wit, or the like; self- 
conceited ; self-complacent. 
Mr. Collins and one Mr. Hales (a young man very well 
conceited of himself and censorious of others) went to 
Aquiday. Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 10. 
How conceited of their own wit, science, and politeness ! 
Bentley. 
Conceited gowk ! puffed up wi' windy pride ! 
Burns, Brigs of Ayr. 
The conceited are rarely shy ; for they value themselves 
much too highly to expect depreciation. 
Darm'n, Express, of Emotions, p. 331. 
4t. Having a favorable conception or opinion 
of any person or thing. [Rare.] 
of our Chirtiryians they were so conceited that they be- 
leeued any Plaister would heale any hurt. 
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 137. 
