conjure

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See also: conjuré

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English conjuren, from Old French conjurer, from Latin coniūrō (I swear together; conspire), from con- (with, together) + iūro (I swear or take an oath).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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conjure (third-person singular simple present conjures, present participle conjuring, simple past and past participle conjured)

  1. (intransitive) To perform magic tricks.
    He started conjuring at the age of 15, and is now a famous stage magician.
  2. (transitive) To summon (a devil, etc.) using supernatural power.
  3. (intransitive, archaic) To practice black magic.
    • 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 7:
      "Thou great Norman lump!" he muttered. "If I conjure till Doomsday, I cannot make thee gold."
  4. (transitive, archaic) To enchant or bewitch.
  5. (transitive) To evoke. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  6. (transitive) To imagine or picture in the mind.
    Synonyms: envisage, imagine, picture, visualize
    • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. [], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, [], published 1842, →OCLC, page 51:
      There was a deep silence, while Helen's vivid fancy conjured up the scene. She knew the small neat room—she had been with Mrs. Palmer to see it; the cheerful garden filled with flowers, the hum of the distant play-ground, the rosy clusters of an acacia-tree, whose branches almost came in at the window;...
  7. (transitive, archaic) To make an urgent request to; to appeal to or beseech.
  8. (intransitive, obsolete) To conspire or plot.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. [], London: [] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker []; [a]nd by Robert Boulter []; [a]nd Matthias Walker, [], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: [], London: Basil Montagu Pickering [], 1873, →OCLC:
      Drew after him the third part of Heaven's sons / Conjured against the Highest.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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conjure (uncountable)

  1. (African-American Vernacular) The practice of magic; hoodoo; conjuration.

Derived terms

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French

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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conjure

  1. inflection of conjurer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Middle English

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Verb

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conjure

  1. Alternative form of conjuren

Portuguese

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Verb

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conjure

  1. inflection of conjurar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

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Verb

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conjure

  1. inflection of conjurar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative