All 4 Uses of
conceive
in
The Odyssey, by Homer - (translated by: Butler)
- Now, Aeolus has six daughters and six lusty sons, so he made the sons marry the daughters, and they all live with their dear father and mother, feasting and enjoying every conceivable kind of luxury.†
Book 10
- Endnote 42: It is inconceivable that Helen should enter thus, in the middle of supper, intending to work with her distaff, if great festivities were going on.†
Book Foot *inconceivable = totally unlikely or impossible to understandstandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in inconceivable means not and reverses the meaning of conceivable. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- I spent but one month happily with my children, wife, and property, and then I conceived the idea of making a descent on Egypt, so I fitted out a fine fleet and manned it.†
Book 14 *
- The dinner indeed had been prepared amid much merriment; it had been both good and abundant, for they had sacrificed many victims; but the supper was yet to come, and nothing can be conceived more gruesome than the meal which a goddess and a brave man were soon to lay before them—for they had brought their doom upon themselves.†
Book 20
Definitions:
-
(1)
(conceive as in: conceive the idea) to originate, understand, or imagine
-
(2)
(conceive as in: conceived their first child) become pregnant or fertilize an egg