▪ I. † conˈfect, ppl. a. Obs.
Also 6 -fict.
[ad. L. confect-us, pa. pple. of conficĕre: see confect v.]
1. Performed. (Said of the sacrifice of the mass: cf. confection n. 2, conficient.)
| 1401 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 108 Thei seie breed is turned into fleish, and wyne into blood..It wole not be confect but oonli of a preest, that lawfulli is ordeyned. |
2. Made up by combination of ingredients; compounded; mixed.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. lx. (1495) 897 Oximell is callyd soure hony, for the matere therof is confecte of hony and of vyneygre. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 797 Kepe this confect meddissyng Until the time of..spryngyng. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas iii. ix. (1554) 82 Confect with spices. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par., Pref. to Luke 10 It is confect of no mo than one simple. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest Ep. Ded., Ambrosia, a sugred and confect kinde of wine. 1662 R. Mathew Unl. Alch. §89. 156 Take a long neckt Jugg..put in thy Amber confect therein. |
3. Made into a confection; preserved.
| 1558 Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. (1568) 42 a, The seede of citrons confict in sugre. |
4. ‘Made up’, counterfeit.
| c 1690 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Confect, Counterfeit. |
▪ II. confect, n.
(ˈkɒnfɛkt)
Also 7 comfect.
[ad. med.L. confectum, confecta, subst. uses of the pa. pple.: see prec. and comfit. Cf. It. confetto sweetmeat; also Ger. confect.]
A sweetmeat made of fruit, seed, etc., preserved in sugar; a comfit.
| 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1355/1 It hailed small confects, rained rosewater, and snew an artificiall kind of snow. 1614 Overbury Char. ix. Amorist, Muske comfects. 1662 H. Stubbe Ind. Nectar iii. 34 Cacao..roasted, and made into Confects. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs i. 2 Use it like Caraway-seeds for Confects and Sugar-plums. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Confects are reduced to eight kinds, viz. liquid confects, marmalades, jellies, pasts, dry confects, conserves, candies, and dragees, or sugar-plums. 1889 A. Conan Doyle Micah Clarke i. 9 She made salves and eyewaters, powders and confects, cordials and persico. |
▪ III. confect, v.
(kənˈfɛkt)
Also 6 -fict.
[f. L. confect- ppl. stem of confic-ĕre to put together, make up, prepare, complete, etc., f. con- + facĕre to do, make, put.]
trans.
† 1. To put together, mix, compound (ingredients).
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 69 Confict them together with wine and make pilles of them. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health C iv b, Confecte or compounde al together. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) II. 152 Vnwholsome it is to mix, season, and confect therewith some other wine. 1610 P. Barrough Meth. Physick i. xxxi. (1639) 52 Let all these be beaten into powder and searced, and confect that powder with clarified honie. |
† 2. To prepare or make up by the combination of various ingredients; to compound. Obs.
| 1575 Turberv. Falconrie 357 Confect the unguent of Capons grease, oyle of roses, oyle of violets, etc. 1580 Babington Exp. Lord's Prayer (1596) 90 The Phisitions prescription confected by the Apothecary. 1620 Venner Via Recta viii. 165 To confect a sauce. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 299 That poison..was confected..by his brother. 1651 Biggs New Disp. 34 Confect many medicines. |
† 3. To prepare for use as a relish or delicacy; to make into a comfit or confection; to preserve, pickle. ? Obs.
| 1558 Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. (1568) 39 a, When the nuttes be in season to conficte. 1601 Holland Pliny xv. iii, Olives..confected and seasoned with salt. 1624 Ford, etc. Sun's Darling iv, Mistery there..Confects the substance of the choicest fruits In a rich candy. 1681 Rycaut Critick 166 Those [words] which may embitter, and dress, and comfect them for the stomach of the receiver. 1808 [see confected]. 1886 Besant Childr. Gibeon ii. xxv, Fashioning match-boxes, sorting paper, confecting jam. |
† 4. To prepare (food) for digestion or assimilation; to digest. Obs.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man v. 70 We first confect, and make ready in the mouth the rough and hard meates. 1605 Timme Quersit. i. xv. 75 A certain internal and vitriolated fier..doth readily and quickly confect and destroy the meates. |
5. To make (out of the materials). [In mod. use an affectation after F. confectionner; cf. confection n. 6 and v. 3.]
| 1677 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 4) 309 Of this also were confected the famous Everlasting Lamps and Tapers. The stone is called Asbeston. 1880 R. Broughton Sec. Th. iii. ii, Prodigies in the way of patchwork quilts, confected by fingers of three or four years. |