▪ I. † conject, v. Obs.
(kənˈdʒɛkt)
Also 5 congette, coniette; pa. tense coniecte.
[ad. L. conjectā-re to cast together, conjecture, guess, conclude, infer, freq. of conjicĕre (ppl. stem conject-) to throw together, etc., f. con- together + jacĕre to throw. In sense 3, congette, from the Fr. form congete-r, was used by Caxton and his comtemporaries.]
1. = conjecture v. 3. a. trans. (or with obj. clause.)
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. vi. 27, I coniecte þat þere lakkeþ I not what. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. i. (1495) 3 What so euer ony man wyll coniecte, feyne, ymagyne, suppose or saye. 1523 Surrey in St. Papers Hen. VIII, IV. 38 What I conject the seid Duke woll doo. 1531 Elyot Gov. iii. xxv, If they wyl coniecte histories to be lyes. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. viii. §29 Some Writers haue laboured to conject the true cause. 1613 T. Godwin Rom. Antiq. (1674) 235 We may conject the reason of these ballances. a 1734 North Exam. i. iii. §71 (1740) 175 How far he was disposed to join with the Party..we may conject. |
b. intr.
| 1388 Wyclif Ezek. xxi. 19 He shal coniecte [1382 gesse] in the heed of the weie of the citee. 1565–73 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Coniectura, Aberrare coniectura, to coniect wrong. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 149 (Qq.) One that so imperfectly conjects [Ff. conceits]. |
c. To form the hypothesis, suppose. rare.
| 1588 Mellis Briefe Instr. F v, Coniect in your owne imagination, that this..shoppe were a person Debitor. |
2. trans. To forecast by signs, augur, divine, prognosticate. Also absol.
| 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) i. xxv. 60/2 By faynynge & falshode coniecte & tell to the people thynges that ben to come. 1565–73 Cooper Thesaurus, Auguro..to tell by diuination what shall happen: to diuine: to coniect. 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) 2 Thess. ii. 2 note, Some [haue] presumed to calculate and coniect by the starres. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcel. xxi. 165 Conjecting his death by sundrie presaging tokens. |
3. To contrive, devise, plan, plot.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 298 Alle þe newe lawis þat clerkis han maad ben sutilly conjectid by ypocrisie. c 1465 Eng. Chron. (Camd. 1856) 78 Coniectyng and ymaginyng howe he myghte dystroy theyme. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. clxiv. 148 Traytours that congetted [ed. 1520, p. 92, conjected] falsenesse ageynst hym. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxvi. v, With mortall Envie they did then conjecte To make a finde. 1541 Paynel Catiline xix. 38 Thy motions coniected..ageynst me. 1552 Huloet, Aduise or coniect how a thyng shall be done, præmeditor. |
4. lit. To throw, cast. (rare.)
| 1625 Bp. R. Montagu App. Cæsar 298 Nor [do] these men cast on mee particular calumnies, but per satyram congested and conjected at a masse upon the Church of England. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 325 Conjected into wine, it conciliates a certain suavity in drinking. |
▪ II. † conject, pa. pple. Obs. rare.
[ad. L. conject-us, pa. pple. of conjicĕre, conicĕre to throw together: used instead of conjected.]
Thrown, cast.
| c 1543 Becon Nosegay Wks. (1843) 196 That so many should be conject and cast into everlasting damnation. |
▪ III. † ˈconject, n. Obs. rare.
[ad. L. conject-us (u- stem) casting, cast, f. ppl. stem of conjicĕre: see prec.]
Device, contrivance.
| 14.. Epiph. in Tundale's Vis. 108 They schall askape..For all the conjecte of thy prynces wyse. |