conceit

Literary an elaborate image or far-fetched comparison, esp as used by the English Metaphysical poets

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Conceit

See also Arrogance, Boastfulness, Egotism.

Ajax

(the lesser) boastful and insolent; drowns due to vanity. [Gk. Myth.: Kravitz, 14]

Bunthorne, Reginald

fleshly poet; “aesthetically” enchants the ladies. [Br. Lit.: Patience]

Butler, Theodosius

thinks he is a wonderful person. [Br. Lit.: Sketches by Boz]

Collins, Mr.

pompous, self-satisfied clergyman who proposes to Elizabeth Bennet. [Br. Lit.: Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice]

Dalgetty, Rittmaster Dugald

self-aggrandizing, pedantic soldier-of-fortune. [Br. Lit.: Legend of Montrose]

Dedlock, Sir Leicester

contemplates his own greatness. [Br. Lit.: Bleak House]

Dogberry and Verges

ignorant and bloated constables. [Br. Lit.: Much Ado About Nothing]

Grosvenor, Archibald

idyllic poet of no imperfections. [Br. Lit.: Patience]

Henry VIII

inflated self-image parallels bloated body. [Br. Lit.: Henry VIII]

Homer, Little Jack

pats his back with “What a good boy am I!” [Nurs. Rhyme: Mother Goose, 90]

Keefe, Jack

baseball pitcher is a chronic braggart and self-excuser suffering from an exaggerated sense of importance. [Am. Lit.: Lardner You Know Me Al in Magill III, 1159]

Lewis

self-important coxcomb full of hollow, ostentatious valor. [Br. Lit.: Henry V]

Malvolio

Olivia’s grave, self-important steward; “an affectioned ass.” [Br. Lit.: Twelfth Night]

Montespan, Marquis de

regards exile and wife’s concubinage as honor. [Br. Opera: The Duchess of la Valliere, Brewer Hand-book, 721]

narcissus

flower of conceit. [Plant Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 170; Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 171–172]

nettle

symbol of vanity and pride. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 176]

Orion

scorpion stung him to death for his boasting. [Rom. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 971]

Prigio, Prince

too clever prince; arrogance renders him unpopular. [Children’s Lit.: Prince Prigio]

Slurk, Mr.

had a “consciousness of immeasurable superiority” over others. [Br. Lit.: Pickwick Papers]

Tappertit, Simon

boasted he could subdue women with eyes. [Br. Lit.: Barnaby Rudge]

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Men's reaction to women's self-liberation is, sadly, what Bukenya equates to 'caveman conceit' that vilifies the women's movement and repulses their efforts to reach out to men as partners rather than antagonists.

Rejection killing is the caveman's reaction to liberation of women

The ideas in The Fatal Conceit build on Hayek's economics of knowledge, developed in the 1930s and 1940s.

Against Tribal Instincts

Wall begins her study in the 1570s, with the first recipe book marketed to housewives and women: John Partridge's Treasurie of Commodious Conceits. Over the next century and a half, England became the most active site in Europe for cookbook publication and circulation.

Recipes for Thought: Knowledge and Taste in the Early Modern English Kitchen

THE season of goodwill is likely to mean more to a humble person than a conceited one, research suggests.

If you're humble, you just want to help

"The one thing that we won't allow them to do is be conceited.

Eck warns against complacency

"This is a patently ridiculous conceit, the kind of fantasy writing that gives fantasy writing a bad name," the author of The Satanic Verses said in the article.

Rushdie dubs Slumdog's plot "patently ridiculous conceit"

Whether the particular narrative about motherhood has women conscripted into service by capitalism or feminism, what's missing is a coolheaded free market analysis, which would regard women as actors in an arena of choices, without the conceit of top-down management.

The real Mommy Wars: both left and right attack mothers for the choices they make

The conceit of Boys Briefs 4, a collection of gay short films about hustlers, sounds potentially cheesy.

Hustlers and flow

Nevertheless, the underlying conceit is clever, and should attract readers who want more current folktale material.

Masson, Sophie. Snow fire sword

This was the conceit that inspired the psihuska, or psychiatric gulag, where "delusional" people who rebelled against the benevolent Soviet state were forcibly "cured" of their "anti-social" attitudes.

Toward a psychiatric gulag

Sunshine Has Rain begins by laying the groundwork in describing Channa as an overachiever and someone who has it all, basically to the point of conceit. Her world is turned upside down in such a short period of time, dispelling any illusions she has about who her friends and enemies are.

Sunshine Has Rain