Share this Article on Facebook Twitter Submit this article to Reddit Give this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon

conceit

Conceit

Allusions--Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary | 1986 | Copyright

120. Conceit (See also Arrogance, Boastfulness, Egotism.)

  1. Ajax (the lesser ) boastful and insolent; drowns due to vanity. [Gk. Myth.: Kravitz, 14]
  2. Bunthorne, Reginald fleshly poet; “aesthetically” enchants the ladies. [Br. Lit.: Patience ]
  3. Butler, Theodosius thinks he is a wonderful person. [Br. Lit.: Sketches by Boz ]
  4. Collins, Mr. pompous, self-satisfied clergyman who proposes to Elizabeth Bennet. [Br. Lit.: Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice ]
  5. Dalgetty, Rittmaster Dugald self-aggrandizing, pedantic soldier-of-fortune. [Br. Lit.: Legend of Montrose ]
  6. Dedlock, Sir Leicester contemplates his own greatness. [Br. Lit.: Bleak House ]
  7. Dogberry and Verges ignorant and bloated constables. [Br. Lit.: Much Ado About Nothing ]
  8. Grosvenor, Archibald idyllic poet of no imperfections. [Br. Lit.: Patience ]
  9. Henry VIII inflated self-image parallels bloated body. [Br. Lit.: Henry VIII ]
  10. Homer, Little Jack pats his back with “What a good boy am I!” [Nurs. Rhyme: Mother Goose, 90]
  11. Keefe, Jack baseball pitcher is a chronic braggart and self-excuser suffering from an exaggerated sense of importance. [Am. Lit.: Lardner You Know Me Al in Magill III, 1159]
  12. Lewis self-important coxcomb full of hollow, ostentatious valor. [Br. Lit.: Henry V ]
  13. Malvolio Olivia’s grave, self-important steward; “an affectioned ass.” [Br. Lit.: Twelfth Night ]
  14. Montespan, Marquis de regards exile and wife’s concubinage as honor. [Br. Opera: The Duchess of la Valliere, Brewer Hand-book, 721]
  15. narcissus flower of conceit. [Plant Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 170; Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 171–172]
  16. nettle symbol of vanity and pride. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 176]
  17. Orion scorpion stung him to death for his boasting. [Rom. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 971]
  18. Prigio, Prince too clever prince; arrogance renders him unpopular. [Children’s Lit.: Prince Prigio ]
  19. Slurk, Mr. had a “consciousness of immeasurable superiority” over others. [Br. Lit.: Pickwick Papers ]
  20. Tappertit, Simon boasted he could subdue women with eyes. [Br. Lit.: Barnaby Rudge ]
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"Conceit." Allusions--Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. 1986. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Conceit." Allusions--Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. 1986. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2505500129.html

"Conceit." Allusions--Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. 1986. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2505500129.html

Learn more about citation styles

conceit

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2008 | Copyright

conceit in literature, fanciful or unusual image in which apparently dissimilar things are shown to have a relationship. The Elizabethan poets were fond of Petrarchan conceits, which were conventional comparisons, imitated from the love songs of Petrarch, in which the beloved was compared to a flower, a garden, or the like. The device was also used by the metaphysical poets , who fashioned conceits that were witty, complex, intellectual, and often startling, e.g., John Donne's comparison of two souls with two bullets in "The Dissolution." Samuel Johnson disapproved of such strained metaphors, declaring that in the conceit "the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together." Such modern poets as Emily Dickinson and T. S. Eliot have used conceits.

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"conceit." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"conceit." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-conceit.html

"conceit." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-conceit.html

Learn more about citation styles

conceit

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature | 2003 | | Copyright

conceit, an elaborate metaphor comparing two apparently dissimilar objects or emotions, often with an effect of shock or surprise. The Petrarchan conceit, much imitated by Elizabethan sonneteers and both used and parodied by Shakespeare, usually evoked the qualities of the disdainful mistress and the devoted lover, often in highly exaggerated terms; the metaphysical conceit, as used by Donne and his followers, applied wit and ingenuity to, in the words of Dr Johnson, ‘a combination of dissimilar images, or discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently unlike’ e.g. Donne's famous comparison of two lovers to a pair of compasses.
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "conceit." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "conceit." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-conceit.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "conceit." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-conceit.html

Learn more about citation styles

conceit

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | Copyright

con·ceit / kənˈsēt/ • n. 1. excessive pride in oneself. 2. . a fanciful expression in writing or speech; an elaborate metaphor: the idea of the wind's singing is a prime romantic conceit. ∎  an artistic effect or device: the director's brilliant conceit was to film this tale in black and white. ∎  a fanciful notion: he is alarmed by the widespread conceit that he spent most of the 1980s drunk.

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"conceit." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"conceit." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-conceit.html

"conceit." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-conceit.html

Learn more about citation styles

conceit

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | | Copyright

conceit †conception, thought; personal opinion XIV; fanciful opinion, etc., fancy XV; for self-conceit XVII. f. CONCEIVE on the analogy of the pairs deceive, deceit, receive, receipt, which have French originals. The sense-development was infl. by It. concetto (cf. CONCEPT), which the Eng. word was prob. designed to represent.
Hence conceit vb. XVI. conceited XVI. f. vb. or sb.; see -ED 2.
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

T. F. HOAD. "conceit." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "conceit." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-conceit.html

T. F. HOAD. "conceit." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-conceit.html

Learn more about citation styles

conceit

A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture | 2000 | | Copyright

conceit. Agreeable fabrique in a garden, usually whimsical, such as a bridge not spanning anything but there purely for ornament.
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

JAMES STEVENS CURL. "conceit." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JAMES STEVENS CURL. "conceit." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O1-conceit.html

JAMES STEVENS CURL. "conceit." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O1-conceit.html

Learn more about citation styles

conceit

Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes | 2007 | Copyright

conceit •accrete, beat, beet, bittersweet, bleat, cheat, cleat, clubfeet, compete, compleat, complete, conceit, Crete, deceit, delete, deplete, discreet, discrete, eat, effete, élite, entreat, escheat, estreat, excrete, feat, feet, fleet, gîte, greet, heat, leat, leet, Magritte, maltreat, marguerite, meat, meet, mesquite, mete, mistreat, neat, outcompete, peat, Pete, petite, pleat, receipt, replete, seat, secrete, sheet, skeet, sleet, splay-feet, street, suite, sweet, teat, treat, tweet, wheat •backbeat • heartbeat • deadbeat •breakbeat • offbeat • browbeat •downbeat • drumbeat • upbeat •sugar beet • Blackfeet • flatfeet •forefeet • exegete • polychaete •lorikeet • parakeet •athlete, biathlete, decathlete, heptathlete, pentathlete, triathlete •kick-pleat • paraclete • obsolete •gamete • crabmeat • sweetmeat •mincemeat • forcemeat • backstreet •concrete • window seat

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"conceit." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"conceit." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-conceit.html

"conceit." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-conceit.html

Learn more about citation styles

Free newspaper and magazine articles

Impure Conceits: Rhetoric and Ideology in Wordsworth's "Excursion".(Review)
Magazine article from: Studies in Romanticism; 3/22/2000
Conceits & Ribaldries Included.(The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First...
Magazine article from: Commonweal; 10/9/2009
THE CONCEIT AND DREAMS THAT NURTURE NFL EGOS.(SPORTS)
Newspaper article from: The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA); 9/24/1997

Facts and information from other sites

Pictures from Google Image Search

Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture

See more pictures of conceit

Related topics