▪ I. † conˈcoct, pa. pple. and ppl. a. Obs.
[ad. L. concoct-us, pa. pple. of concoquĕre to boil together, digest, ripen, f. con- + coquĕre to cook, boil, digest.]
Digested; subjected to heat; refined or matured by heat: also fig. (See next.)
| 1534 Elyot Let. to Cromwell in Gov. (1883) p. cx, Being radd diligently and well concoct..it will not seeme very tediouse. 1541 ― Image Gov. 55 Meates..whiche all together can not bee..duly concocte and digested. 1565–78 Cooper Thesaurus, Crudum, raw, not concoct. 1577 Eden & Willes Trav. 274 Lesse concocte then the matter of gummes and spyces. 1616–61 B. Holyday Persius 306 A heart not stained by Foul lust, concoct in noble honesty. |
▪ II. concoct, v.
(kənˈkɒkt)
[f. L. concoct-, ppl. stem of concoquĕre: see prec.
The literal sense in Lat. was ‘to boil together, prepare (a mixture) by boiling or heat’, whence transf. ‘to digest in the stomach,’ and fig. ‘to digest or revolve in the mind’, and ‘to stomach or brook with the feelings’; also ‘to make ready with heat, ripen, mature’. Most of the Lat. senses have been from time to time taken into Eng., where they have been increased by other fig., transf., allusive, and intermediate uses. The earliest Eng. sense appears to be ‘digest’, but the only existing ones are 9 and 11.]
† I. To make ready, or mature, by heat. Obs.
† 1. gen. (trans.). To prepare by the action of heat, to boil, cook, bake, etc. lit. and fig. Obs.
| 1607 Schol. Disc. agst. Antichr. i. iv. 176 There wanteth..the heate of the Nurse that doth digest and concockt the milke to make it sweet. 1643 tr. G. H. Fabricius' Exper. Chyrurg. xiii. 49 The Patient [must] never eate, except the meat be first well concocted. 1673 O. Walker Educ. (1677) 57 Difficulties..bake and concoct the mind—lazines effeminates and loosneth it. |
† b. intr. for refl. To boil, simmer, bake, etc.
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 417 So that they [grapes] be let to concoct before in the Sun, vntil they be white and drie. 1635 Sibbes Soul's Confl. ii. (ed. 4) 16 Such enemies, as did not suffer their malice only to boile and concoct in their own breasts. 1830 Bp. Monk Life Bentley (1833) I. 321 He resolved to discharge his bile, which had been so long concocting. |
† 2. In obs. Physical science: To bring (metals, minerals, etc.) to their perfect or mature state by heat; to ‘maturate’. Obs.
| 1555 Eden Decades 266 The mountaynes..are fruteful of metals, in the which, syluer and copper are concocte and molten into veynes, which can scarsely bee doonne in fornaces. 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. xlii. (1614) 83/1 A clammie kinde of clay hardned with heat abounding in the earth, and so becoming concocted, is nothing else but bitumen. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 114 Were this rock of raw diamonds removed into the East Indies, and placed where the beams of the sun might sufficiently concoct them. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 514 Sulphurous and Nitrous Foame..with suttle Art Concocted and adusted they reduc'd To blackest grain. 1671 J. Webster Metallogr. iii. 42 And after concocted and maturated into several forms of Metals. 1837 Hawthorne Twice-told T. (1851) I. xi. 185 This most precious gem that ever was concocted in the laboratory of Nature. |
† b. intr. for refl. Obs.
| 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. iii. 89 Rocks..which from a sandy kind of Earth gradually concoct into Free⁓stone. |
† c. Formerly applied to the formation of dew or rain. Obs.
| 1653 H. More Conject. Cabbal. (1713) 17 There went up a moist Vapour from the Earth, which being matured and concocted..became a precious balmy liquor, and fit vehicle of Life. 1684 Charnock Attrib. God (1834) I. 45 Vapours ascend from the earth and the heavens concoct them and return them back in welcome showers. |
† 3. To ripen or mature: a. fruits, vegetable juices, gums, etc.; b. morbific humours, boils, tumours, etc.; to maturate. Obs.
| a. 1577 [see concoct ppl. a.]. |
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1323 The oile..being better concocted, and riper in the fruit. a 1626 Bacon (J.), Fruits and grains are half a year in concocting. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. (1675) 68 Green Fruit..is but sowre, and unwholesome, being neither sweetned nor concocted by Maturity. 1764 Grainger Sugar Cane i. (R.), For him the cane with little labour grows..Concocts rich juice. 1781–1818 [see concocted.] |
| b. 1586 Cogan Haven Health xxxvii. (1636) 54 Basill..outwardly applied it doth digest and concoct. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 48 Oyl of Dill..concocteth crude tumors. 1748 tr. Vegetius' Distemp. Horses 58 All the distempered Matter is concocted and maturated. |
| fig. 1667 J. Flavel Saint Indeed (1754) 92 It is the fault of many good men, to be of hasty and quick spirits when provoked, tho' they dare not concoct anger into malice. |
II. To digest.
† 4. trans. To digest (food). See concoction. Obs. or arch. (Associated with boiling in 1533.)
| 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe ii. (R.), For cold maketh appetite, but naturall heate concocteth or boyleth. 1541 [see concoct ppl. a.]. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 68 To see how the..meate receiued into the stomacke, will be digested, and concocted. 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass 79 The Struthio-camell or Ostridge..will concoct iron. 1742 Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 II. 86 That quantity that is sufficient, the stomach can perfectly concoct and digest. 1825 Lamb Elia (1860) 421 We cannot concoct our food with interruptions. |
† b. fig. Obs.
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage v. xvii. 457 The multitude of Lakes and Rivers, whereout the Sunne drinketh more then hee can well concoct. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. i. vii. (1851) 135 Things..crude and hard to digest, which only time and deliberation can supple, and concoct. 1741 Watts Improv. Mind i. ii. §5 It does as it were concoct our intellectual food, and turns it into a part of ourselves. |
† c. intr. for refl. Obs.
| 1620 Venner Via Recta viii. 173 A competent time..for the meats..to concoct, and descend from the stomacke. |
† 5. To digest in the mind, ruminate on, revolve, think over. Obs.
| 1534 [see concoct ppl. a.]. 1654 Triana in Fuller's Cause & Cure, etc. (1867) 230 They for a time sat still to concoct with themselves the reason of so strange an accident. |
† 6. To put up with, endure, bear; to brook, ‘digest,’ ‘stomach’. Obs.
| a 1627 Hayward (J.), Assuredly he was a man of a feeble stomach, unable to concoct any great fortune, prosperous or adverse. 1679 J. Goodman Penitent Pard. iii. i. (1713) 271 Provocation..too great for us to be able to concoct. |
† 7. To digest, or properly dispose and assimilate (a matter). Obs.
| 1659 O. Walker Oratory 15 Alter and concoct the matter received from others into your own style. |
III. To compose or produce, compound, make up by a process.
† 8. To compose or produce by a natural process; to secrete. Obs. Cf. concoction 1 b.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §496 Honey Dewes are found..upon Oak Leaves..But whether any cause be from the Leaf it self to concoct the Dew. 1741 Monro Anat. Nerves (ed. 3) 25 The Mucus of the alimentary Canal is concocted in Lacunæ. |
9. To make up or prepare (artificially) by mixing a variety of ingredients; now esp. of a soup, a drink, or the like.
| 1675 Evelyn Terra (1729) 38 Composts should be thoroughly concocted, air'd, of a scent agreeable. 1816 Southey Ess. (1832) I. 266 A book of solid materials heavily concocted, but collected with industry. 1830 Scott Demonol. v. 148 The most potent ale, concocted with spices and a little white sugar. 1844 Lever T. Burke ii, As he employed himself in concocting a smoking tumbler of punch. 1854 Badham Halieut. 487 For Spartan friends..I must concoct the filthy dark broth for which they are famous. |
† 10. To compose, settle by concert. Obs.
| 1616 Brent tr. Sarpi's Hist. Counc. Trent (1676) 23 b, The point of Residency, which was as hard to be concocted, for that it was popular. 1659 H. More Immort. Soul (1662) 135 That difficulty is concocted pretty well already. |
11. To make up, devise, or plan by concert, or by artificial combination; to put together, make up, or fabricate (a story, project, fraud, etc.).
| 1792 M. Wollstonecraft Rights Wom. v. 253 They maintain them [opinions] with a degree of obstinacy that would surprise even the person who concocted them. 1838 Thirlwall Greece V. xl. 126 The whole project, concocted with such elaborate preparations. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. iv. 84 The fact of simultaneous action in Kent and Norfolk makes it certain that the uprising was concocted, and could not have been due to an accident. 1878 Black Green Past. xxiv. 190 A fraud which he had either concocted or condoned. |