CONCEPTION; CONCEIVE

kon-sep'-shun, kon-sev' (harah, and derivatives; sullambano): Physically, the beginning of a new life in the womb of a mother, "to catch on," used thus some forty times, as in Genesis 3:16; 4:1; Psalms 51:5. Metaphorically, applied to the start and growth within the heart, of thought, purpose, desire, e.g. "conceive mischief" (Job 15:35; Psalms 7:14), "conceive chaff" (Isaiah 33:11). This figure is carried out in details in James 1:15: "Lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin."

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.