The broad and simple outlines of English history make it easy to reconceive the past.
He has to try to reconceive God, and when he has done so, nothing but an unsatisfying abstraction is left.
late 13c., conceiven, "take (seed) into the womb, become pregnant," from stem of Old French conceveir (Modern French concevoir), from Latin concipere (past participle conceptus) "to take in and hold; become pregnant," from com-, intensive prefix (see com-), + comb. form of capere "to take," from PIE *kap- "to grasp" (see capable). Meaning "take into the mind" is from mid-14c., a figurative sense also found in the Old French and Latin words. Related: Conceived; conceiving.
conceive con·ceive (kən-sēv')
v. con·ceived, con·ceiv·ing, con·ceives
To become pregnant.
To apprehend mentally; to understand.
