convince, v.
(kənˈvɪns)
[ad. L. convinc-ĕre to overcome, conquer, convict, demonstrate, f. con- altogether, wholly + vincĕre to conquer.]
I. To overcome.
† 1. To overcome, conquer, vanquish; fig. to overpower. Also absol. Obs.
| 1548 Hall Chron. 161 b, Thenglishmen..with al their wittes studied bothe how to repulse & convince their enemies. 1570 Preston Cambyses in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 174, I mean to go Into the Egypt land, Them to convince by force of arms. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. vii. 64 His two Chamberlaines Will I with Wine, and Wassal so conuince, That Memorie, the Warden of the Braine, Shall be a Fume. a 1633 Munday Pal. of Eng. i. i, At length convinced with the heavinesse of sleep..he turned him to the wall. |
† 2. To overcome (a person) in argument; to prove to be wrong, confute. Obs. (Cf. also 6.)
| 1530 Palsgr. 498/2 There have ben twenty doctours to dispute with hym and above, but they all can nat convince hym. 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) Acts xviii. 28 For he with vehemencie conuinced [so 1611; 1881 confuted] the Iewes openly, shewing by the scriptures, that Iesvs is Christ. 1611 Bible Job xxxii. 12 There was none of you that conuinced [so 1885] Iob, or that answered his words. 1671 Milton P.R. iii. 3 Satan stood..confuted and convinced Of his weak arguing and fallacious drift. 1708 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. ii. vii. (1743) 69 Their office is to confirm the wavering, convince the obstinate. |
¶ Johnson's explanation ‘to force any one to acknowledge a contested position’, is intermediate between 2 and 3: he has not the fully developed current sense.
3. To cause (a person) to admit, as established to his satisfaction, that which is advanced in argument; to bring to acknowledge the truth of; to satisfy or persuade by argument or evidence. In pass., To be brought to, or to have, a full conviction; to be firmly persuaded. (= convict 5.)
| 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 65 The reverence I owe you obligeth mee to receive them [your reasons] as if they had already convinced mee. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. xi. (1695) 363 He that sees a Fire, may, if he doubt..feel it too; and be convinced, by putting his Hand in it. c 1750 Shenstone Elegies vi, Translate the song, convince my doubting maid. 1772 Ann. Reg. 255, ‘I am confuted, but not convinced’ is an apology sometimes offered. 1828 Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 202 Let him who would move and convince others, be first moved and convinced himself. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 488, I am convinced..and have nothing more to object. |
b. of a fact.
| 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 640 Convinc'd of Conquest, he resum'd his Shape. 1797–1804 T. Bewick Brit. Birds (1847) I. 63 But having since seen several..the author is convinced of the mistake. 1879 Lubbock Sci. Lect. vi. 171 It is never very difficult to convince one's self of what one wishes to believe. |
c. with subord. clause.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. ii. 171 That perswasion could but thus conuince me, That my integritie and truth to you, Might be affronted, etc. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. i. §2 Those who would not be convinced by them that there was a God. 1791 Cowper Lett. 27 May, No man shall convince me that I am improperly governed, while I feel the contrary. 1862 Ruskin Munera P. (1880) 83 My neighbour cannot be convinced that I am wiser than he is. |
d. To produce a moral conviction of sinfulness.
Here there is a mixture of 4 (where see quot. 1611 ‘convince of sin’) with the modern notion of 3. Cf. convict 4.
| 1648 Shorter Catech. Q. 31 Convincing us of our sin and misery. a 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. iv. (1872) 59 By convincing of sin, by humbling the man. 1880 Froude Bunyan ii. 25 A man of fervid temperament suddenly convinced of sin. |
† e. Phrase. to convince any one's belief. Obs.
| 1654 Ld. Orrery Parthenissa (1676) 496 After I had convinced his belief of that Truth by many protestations. Ibid. 360. |
f. To induce, prevail upon, persuade. Const. to with inf. orig. U.S.
| 1958 Word Study Oct. 5/2 Another usage..that seems to be becoming frequent in Pennsylvania and New York, is that of ‘convince’ in the sense of ‘persuade’, e.g., ‘She convinced him to clean the cellar’. 1977 J. Hodgins Invention of World iii. 88 They..convinced the priest to bless it. 1979 D. Halberstam Powers that Be (1980) ii. 90 He worked very hard personally to convince Ike to run. 1983 Observer 9 Oct. 15/2 Barril's overtures failed to convince him to come out of hiding. |
II. To convict, prove, demonstrate.
† 4. To prove (a person) to be guilty, or in the wrong, esp. by judicial procedure; to prove or find guilty; to convict of, rarely for, in (an offence or error); = convict v. 1, 2. Obs.
| a 1535 Fisher Wks. 435 Who that hath broken the lawe of Moyses, if he were conuinced by two or thre wytnesses, he with out any mercy shulde dye. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 443 Thou art convinced..of many other hainous crimes. 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 198/1 If..they be convinced thereby in the latter day for abusing this ceremonie. 1580 Baret Alv. C 359 To be charged or conuinced in many crimes. 1611 Bible John viii. 46 Which of you conuinceth mee of sinne? 1692 Ray Dissol. World iii. ix. (1732) 398 Convinces him of a gross Mistake. 1776 Foote Bankrupt iii. 87 Instead of clearing, this paper only serves to convince her. |
† b. transf. of things. Obs.
| 1624 A. Wotton Runne fr. Rome 58 The assumption..will conuince the proposition of falsehood. 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. II. 361 All of them convinc'd..Arianism of Heresy and Blasphemy. |
† 5. To demonstrate or prove (orig. something reprehensible, but subsequently also in a neutral or good sense). Obs. (= convict 3.) † a. a person to be or to have done something.
| 1555 Fardle Facions App. 320 Excepte any man..can bring any other cause to conuince them [the iudges] not to haue iudged a righte. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 103 Thereby to conuince vs to be sinners. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus' Germanie vi. (1622) 270 The Gallican tongue doth conuince the Gothinos..not to be Germanes. 1660 T. M. C. Walker's Hist. Indep. iv. 54 It were sufficient to convince the Speaker to be a Son of Beliall. 1692 O. Walker Hist. Illustr. 64 Whoso was convinced to have ploughed them [the Termini] up, both his Oxen and himself were accursed. |
† b. a thing to be or as something. Obs.
| 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 409 The false Latine that is in many, is sufficient to conuince them for counterfets. 1613 Salkeld Treat. Angels 203 This may easily be convinced as false. 1638 Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. ii. § 53 Other Arguments, whereby they convinced their doctrine to be true. 1654 Fuller Two Serm. 58 So much of the Morall Law..as may convince their practice to be contrarie thereunto. |
† c. that a thing is something. Obs.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 113 Those two proverbs of holy Scripture..convince, that they [dogs] are emblems of vile, cursed, rayling, and filthy men. 1730 A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 108 Sufficient to convince, that without doubt Herod's Amphitheatres were of Wood. |
† d. with simple object (representing a proposition). Obs.
| 1654 Jer. Taylor Real Pres. vii. §1 The first proposition is beyond all dispute..Hoc facite convinces it. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl., Disc. Occas. Med., If Experience did not convince the contrary. |
† 6. To demonstrate or prove (a thing, argument, etc.) to be erroneous; to disprove, refute.
(This sense has relations also with sense 2: cf. convict 6.)
| a 1533 Frith Disput. Purgat. (1829) 146 Whatsoever is not answered in this part, shall be touched and fully convinced in the third. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par., Luke iii. (R.), With a texte of Holy Scripture rightly alleged, he conuinced the texte of Scripture whiche Satan had falsely cyted. 1621 Venner Tobacco (1650) 398 It convinceth not my assertion. 1625 Bacon Ess. Atheism (Arb.) 331 God neuer wrought Miracle to conuince Atheisme, because his Ordinary Works conuince it. |
† 7. To demonstrate or prove (absurdity, error, vanity, etc.) to be such; to expose (in its real character). Obs. (= convict 6 b.)
| 1583 Fulke Defence x. 391 The text itself, you say, is sufficient to convince this absurdity. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 42 A very great argument..to conuince that grosse and blockish conceit of them who, etc. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 46/2 The other..would not discover or convince their Vanity. 1675 R. Vaughan Coinage 7, I shall convince hereafter an important and a popular error. |
† b. To expose and reprehend (faults). Obs.
| 1610 Bp. Hall Apol. Brownists §13 Recoll. Treat. (1614) 740 The faults..of a Church may be severely reproved and convinced according to the quality thereof, and yet the Church not be condemned. |
† 8. To demonstrate or prove any quality, property, or predicate, of a person or thing: i.e. that the person or thing is possessed of such quality, etc. Obs.
| 1549 Parsons Confer. Success. i. vi. 124 Yet shal I now agayne conuince more amply the vntruth therof. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God xxi. vi. (1620) 789 To conuince the possibility of what we intend against those Infidels. 1672 Wilkins Nat. Relig. (1675) 91 An evidence..sufficient to convince the existence of a Deity. 1681 Ess. Peace & Truth Ch. 6 The antient Champions of Christianity most rationally convinced the Vanity of Heathenish Superstition. |