Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Conceive

Conceive , transitive verb

[Old French conzoivre, concever, conceveir, French concevoir, from Latin oncipere to take, to conceive; con- + capere to seize or take. See Capable, and compare Conception.]

1.
To receive into the womb and begin to breed; to begin the formation of the embryo of.
She hath also conceived a son in her old age. — Luke i. 36
2.
To form in the mind; to plan; to devise; to generate; to originate; as, to conceive a purpose, plan, hope.
It was among the ruins of the Capitol that I first conceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised near twenty years of my life. — Gibbon
Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. — Is. lix. 13
3.
To apprehend by reason or imagination; to take into the mind; to know; to imagine; to comprehend; to understand.
I conceive you. — Hawthorne
O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart Cannot conceive nor name thee! — Shakespeare
You will hardly conceive him to have been bred in the same climate. — Swift

Conceive , intransitive verb

1.
To have an embryo or fetus formed in the womb; to breed; to become pregnant.
A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son. — Isa. vii. 14
2.
To have a conception, idea, or opinion; think; -- with of.
Conceive of things clearly and distinctly in their own natures. — I. Watts