▪ I. conduit, n.
(ˈkʌndɪt, ˈkɒndɪt)
Forms: 4 condut, cundid, -it, kundute, -dit(e, (pl. condwys, condise), 4–5 condyt, condethe, 4–6 condit, -dite, -dyte, cundite, -dyt(e, 5 coundite, -duyte, cundyth(e, 5–6 conduyt(e, condet(te, 5–7 conduict, 6 condute, condyd, cunditt, cunduite, coundight, -dyte, 6–7 conduite, 8 cunduit, 6– conduit.
[A particular application of the word conduct (OF. conduit, med.L. conductus in same sense), formerly having all the three type-forms conduit, condit (cundit), conduct; but, while in the other senses the Latin form conduct has prevailed, in this the French form conduit is retained, and the pronunciation descends from the ME. form condit or cundit.]
1. a. An artificial channel or pipe for the conveyance of water or other liquids; an aqueduct, a canal. (In Sc. in the form cundie commonly applied to a covered drain, not a tile drain.)
| α 1340 Ayenb. 91 Þise uif wytes byeþ ase uif condwys. 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xxiv. 41 As water kundute [1388 cundit]. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 852 Tisbe, As water, whanne the conduyte broken ys. 1570 B. Googe Pop. Kingd. ii. 21 b, The Conduites runne, within continually. 1611 Coryat Crudities 27 Conduits of lead, wherein the water shal be conueighed. 1704 Addison Italy (1733) 215 Conduits Pipes and Canals that were made to distribute the Waters. 1812 Act 52 Geo. III, c. 141 §43 in Oxf. & Camb. Enactm. 125 A certain Conduit called Hobsen's Conduit. 1833 Act 3–4 Will. IV, c. 46 §116 The pipes or other conduits..used for the conveyance of gas. 1864 A. M{supc}Kay Hist. Kilmarnock (ed. 3) 274 Roads having side-drains and cross conduits. 1883 Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 6) 25 Open conduits are liable to be contaminated by surface washings. |
| β 1382 Wyclif 2 Sam. ii. 24 Thei camen to the hil of the water kundit. 1382 ― 1 Kings xviii. 32 He beeldide vp an auter..and he made a water cundid. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 221 A greet condyt [aquæductum]. c 1400 Mandeville v. (1839) 47 Þere is no water to drynke, but ȝif it come be condyt from Nyle [Roxb. vii. 24 in cundites fra the riuer]. c 1400 Rom. Rose 1414 Stremis smale, that by devise Myrthe had done come through condise. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 181 Floode Danubius flowethe..in condettes vnder the erthe. c 1450 Nominale in Wr.-Wülcker 733/40 Hic aqueductus, a cundyth undyr the erthe. 1541 Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 35 (heading) An acte concerning the condites at Gloucester. 1587 Bristol Wills (1886) 249 To the yerely Repayringe of the Cundyte of the said parishe. |
| γ 1491 Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 2 A conduict begun at Christ Churche. 1607 Norden Surveyors Dial. 85, I see the Conducts are made of earthen pipes, which I like farre better then them of Leade. 1642 Perkins Prof. Bk. i. 49 A Pipe in the land to convey the water to my manour in a Conduct. |
b. Electr. A tube or trough for receiving and protecting electric wires; a length or stretch of this. Also
attrib.,
esp. in connection with the
conduit system (see
quot. 1940).
| 1882 U.S. Pat. 266,916 My invention consists, first, in making an electric conduit, comprising an external casing, internal conductor pipes, and supporting diaphragms, of conducting material, so that any electric currents induced in the said pipes will be conducted..directly to the ground. 1884 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Jan. 127/1 Conduits for holding electric wires laid along the streets. 1894 Daily News 2 June 5/4 At Buda-Pesth, where the conduit electrical system is in such successful operation. 1894 Cassier's Mag. Sept. 385/1 A trial of the conduit on a commercial basis at Washington. Ibid. 385/2 The open slot conduit with a continuous, bare trolley wire. Ibid. 386/2 The contact or working conductors could readily be placed in a slotted conduit, or trough. Ibid., The road at Blackpool, England,—an open conduit road. Ibid. 387/1 The Love conduit system. 1896 Daily News 17 Dec. 5/2 The electric power is conveyed from the conduit rail to the car by means of a small peculiarly-shaped conductor. 1899 Ibid. 9 Jan. 3/6 New York will soon have 150 miles of conduit. 1903 Daily Chron. 18 Nov. 3/5 A conduit line from Vauxhall Bridge to the Clapham-road. 1908 Installation News II. 47/2 Three parallel lengths of 3/4 in. Simplex conduit hung a few inches below the ceiling and seven feet apart. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 189/1 Conduit box, a box adapted for connexion to the metal conduit used in electric wiring schemes. Ibid., Conduit system, (1) a system of wiring..in which the conductors are contained in a steel conduit; (2) a system of current collection used on some electric tramway systems. 1941 S. R. Roget Dict. Electr. Terms (ed. 4) 69/1 Conduit Fittings, accessories such as conduit boxes, bends, tees, couplers, etc., for joining lengths of conduit tube for wiring. 1955 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. XI. 131/2 With one method of wiring, separate stranded copper wires with VIR insulation are used, the wires being placed inside black enamelled steel pipes, called ‘conduits’. The conduits are screwed together and joined to cast iron boxes containing the switches and connexions between the wires; the whole conduit system is then joined to earth. |
† 2. a. A structure from which water is distributed or made to issue; a fountain.
Obs. or
arch.| α c 1430 Lydg. Bochas i. xiv. (1554) 30 a, Like a conduit gushed out the bloude. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. clxi. 144 Oute of the conduyt of chepe ran whyte wyn and rede. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 426 They newe buylded in the same place a fayre Conduyt, which at this day is called the Conduyt in Cornehyll. 1611 Coryat Crudities 334 In the middle of the Court there is an exceeding pleasant Conduite that spowteth out water in three degrees one aboue another. 1774 Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry III. xxvi. 154 On the conduit without Ludgate, where the arms and angels had been refreshed. 1871 Rossetti Poems, Dante at Verona xxviii, The conduits round the garden sing. |
| fig. a 1645 Heywood Fort. by Land & Sea i. i, See you not these purple conduits run, Know you these wounds? |
| β ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 201 Clarett and Creette, clergyally rennene, With condethes fulle curious alle of clene siluyre. c 1400 Mandeville xx. (1839) 217 Þei that ben of houshold, drynken at the condyt. c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 139 At the foure corners of this bedde there were foure condytes..out of the whiche there yssued so sweet an odour and so delectable. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 27 At the condyd in Graschestret, the condet in Cornelle..at the lyttyll condyd..ronnynge wyne, rede claret and wythe. |
| γ 1533 Anne Boleyn's Coronation in Furniv. Ballads fr. MSS. I. 393 At the conducte in Cornehill was exhibited a Pageaunte of the three Graces. 1538 Leland Itin. II. 70 There is a Conduct in the Market Place. |
† b. ? A laver or large basin.
Obs.| 1500 Will of J. Ward (Somerset Ho.), My grete lavatory of laton called a Condyte. 1592 R. D. tr. Hypnerotomachia 6 Great lauers, condites, and other infinite fragments of notable woorkmanship. |
3. transf. Any natural channel, canal, or passage;
† a. in the animal body (
obs.);
b. (19th c.) in geological or geographical formations;
= canal 2,
channel 6.
| α 1340 Ayenb. 202 Zuo þet o stream of tyeares yerne be þe condut of þe eȝen. 1483 Caxton De la Tour L iij b, Wyn taken ouer mesure..stoppeth the conduytes of the nose. 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 38 a, For thys drincke mollifieth it [the bladder] openeth the condute. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. lxxx. 544 It doth also stoppe the pores and conduites of the skinne. 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass viii. (1664) 100 The Conduits of the Spirits, and the Arteries and Veins. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. i. i. 269 The conduit that goes to the third stomach. 1830 R. Knox Béclard's Anat. 88 The secretion of the fat..is not performed in glands or in particular conduits. 1839 Murchison Silur. Syst. i. ix. 126 A subterranean conduit or eruptive channel by which the volcanic matter was protruded to the surface. 1862 Dana Man. Geol. 693. |
| β 1513 Douglas æneis xii. ix. 17 The stif swerd..Persit his cost and breistis cundyt in hy. 1587 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle, Sheep (1627) 249 In the condite of the teat. |
| γ 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. p. xlv, [The Sea-] hurcheon..havand bot ane conduct to purge thair wambe and ressave thair meit. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xxxvii. 56 The juyce..openeth the conductes of the nose. 1649 Lovelace Poems 56 The sacred conduicts of her Wombe. |
4. fig. The channel or medium by which anything (
e.g. knowledge, influence, wealth, etc.) is conveyed;
= canal 7,
channel 8.
| α 1540 Coverdale Fruitf. Lesson i, Here are opened the conduits and well-pipes of life, the way of our health. a 1600 Hooker Eccl. Pol. vi. iv. §15 Conduits of irremediable death to impenitent receivers. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iii. xi. (1695) 290 Language being the great Conduit, whereby Men convey..Knowledge, from one to another. 1737 Waterland Eucharist 290 Sacraments are..his appointed Means or Conduits, in and by which He confers his Graces. 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages (1841) I. iii. 303 These republics..became the conduits through which the produce of the East flowed in. 1878 Morley J. De Maistre Crit. Misc. 99 Reaching people through those usual conduits of press and pulpits. |
| γ 1651 Jer. Taylor Clerus Dom. 53 The spirit..running still in the first channels by ordinary conducts. 1670 Moral State Eng. 18 The addresses of the people to their Sovereign..being convey'd through him as a conduct. |
5. Arch. † a. gen. A passage (
obs.).
b. spec. see
quot. 1875.
| 1624 Wotton Archit. in Reliq. Wotton (1672) 33 Doors, Windows, Stair-cases, Chimnies, or other Conducts. 1703 T. N. City & C. Purch. 7. 1875 Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Conduit (Fr.), a long narrow walled passage underground, for secret communication between different apartments. |
† 6. The leading (of water) by a channel.
Obs.| 1555 Fardle Facions Pref. 10 Thei deriued into cities..the pure freshe waters..by conduicte of pipes and troughes. |
7. Mus. A short connecting passage, a codetta.
| 1872 H. C. Banister Music §404 By a short passage ― Conduit..it [the Motivo] is again returned to. 1880 Ouseley in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 568/1. (See copula.) |
8. Comb., as
conduit-cock,
conduit-like,
conduit-water,
adj. or
adv.;
conduit-head, a reservoir;
= conduit 2; also
fig.;
† conduit-water, spring water;
conduit-wise adv. Also
conduit-pipe.
| 1600 Heywood 1st Pt. Edw. IV, Wks. 1874 I. 10 We'le take the tankards from the *conduit-cocks To fill with ipocras. |
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. iv. iii, A fountayne..A noble sprynge, a ryall *conduyte hede. 1607 Dekker Wh. Babylon Wks. 1873 II. 244 Conduit-heads of treason. |
| 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 141 Those saphir-coloured brookes Which *conduit-like with curious crookes, Sweet Ilands make. |
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde (1564) 68 Holyoke sodden in *cunduite water. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. ii. 28 A glasse of conduit water. |
| 1611 Coryat Crudities 9 A little chappell made *conduitwise. |
▪ II. † ˈconduit, v. Obs. rare.
[f. conduit n.] trans. a. To pour
forth like a conduit or fountain;
b. to transmit or convey as through a conduit.
| 1591 Troubl. Raigne K. John ii. (1611) 73 My eies should conduit forth a sea of teares. 1627–77 Feltham Resolves i. ix. 13 His corruption..is still Conduited to his undone Posterity. |
▪ III. conduit, -uite earlier form of
conduct; bad spelling of
condite,
Obs., pickled.