CONCEPTION, noun [Latin , See Conceive.]

1. The act of conceiving; the first formation of the embryo or fetus of an animal.

I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception Genesis 3:16.

2. The state of being conceived.

Joy had the like conception in our eyes.

3. In pneumatology, apprehension of nay thing by the mind; the act of conceiving in the mind; that mental act or combination of acts by which an idea or notion is formed of an absent object of perception, or of a sensation formerly felt. When we see an object with our eyes open, we have a perception of it; when the same object is presented to the mind with the eyes shut, in idea only or in memory, we have a conception of it.

4. conception may be sometimes used for the power of conceiving ideas, as when we say, a thing is not within our conception Some writers have defined conception as a distinct faculty of the mind; but it is considered by others as memory, and perhaps with propriety.

5. Purpose conceived; conception with reference to the performance of an act.

6. Apprehension; knowledge.

And as if beasts conceived what reason were, and that conception should distinctly show.

7. Conceit; affected sentiment, or thought.

He is too full of conceptions, points of epigram, and witticisms.