Part 461

Con*fut"a*ble (?), a. That may be confuted.

A conceit . . . confutable by daily experience. Sir T.Browne.

Con*fut"ant (?), n. [L. confutans, p. pr. of confutare.] One who undertakes to confute. Milton.

Con`fu*ta"tion (?), n. [L. confutatio: cf. F. confutation.] The act or process of confuting; refutation. "For the edification of some and the confutation of others." Bp. Horne.

Con*fut"a*tive (?), a. Adapted or designed to confute. Bp. Warburton

Con*fute (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Confuted; p. pr. & vb. n. Confuting.] [L. confutare to chek (a boiling liquid), to repress, confute; con- + a root seen in futis a water vessel), prob. akin to fundere to pour: cf. F. confuter. See Fuse to melt.] To overwhelm by argument; to refute conclusively; to prove or show to be false or defective; to overcome; to silence.

Satan stood . . . confuted and convinced Of his weak arguing fallacious drift. Milton.

No man's error can be confuted who doth not . . . grant some true principle that contradicts his error. Chillingworth.

I confute a good profession with a bad conversation. Fuller.

Syn. -- To disprove; overthrow; sed aside; refute; oppugn. -- To Confute, Refute. Refute is literally to and decisive evidence; as, to refute a calumny, charge, etc. Confute is literally to check boiling, as when cold water is poured into hot, thus serving to allay, bring down, or neutralize completely. Hence, as applied to arguments (and the word is never applied, like refute, to charges), it denotes, to overwhelm by evidence which puts an end to the case and leaves an opponent nothing to say; to silence; as, "the atheist is confuted by the whole structure of things around him."

Con*fute"ment (?), n. Confutation. [Obs.] Milton.

Con*fut"er (?), n. One who confutes or disproves.

Cong (?), n. (Med.) An abbreviation of Congius.

||Con`gÚ" (k˘N`zh&asl;"; E. k&obreve;n"jē; 277), n. [F., leave, permission, fr. L. commeatus a going back and forth, a leave of absence, furlough, fr. commeare, -meatum, to go and come; com- + meare to go. Cf. Permeate.] [Formerly written congie.] 1. The act of taking leave; parting ceremony; farewell; also, dismissal.

Should she pay off old Briggs and give her her congÚ? Thackeray.

2. The customary act of civility on any occasion; a bow or a courtesy.

The captain salutes you with congÚ profound. Swift.

3. (Arch.) An apophyge. Gwilt.

||CongÚ d'Úlire (&?;) [F., leave to choose] (Eccl.), the sovereign's license or permission to a dean and chapter to choose as bishop the person nominated in the missive.

Con"ge (?), v. i. [Imp. & p. p. Congeed (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Congeing.] [OF. congier, congeer, F. congÚdier, fr. congÚ. See CongÚ, n.] To take leave with the customary civilities; to bow or courtesy.

I have congeed with the duke, done my adieu with his nearest. Shak.

Con"ge*a*ble (?), a. (O. Eng. Law) Permissible; done lawfully; as, entry congeable.

Con*geal" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Congealed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Congealing.] [F. congeler, L. congelare, -gelatumn; con- + gelare to freeze, gelu frost. See Gelid.] 1. To change from a fluid to a solid state by cold; to freeze.

A vapory deluge lies to snow congealed. Thomson.

2. To affect as if by freezing; to check the flow of, or cause to run cold; to chill.

As if with horror to congeal his blood. Stirling.

Con*geal", v. i. To grow hard, stiff, or thick, from cold or other causes; to become solid; to freeze; to cease to flow; to run cold; to be chilled.

Lest zeal, now melted . . . Cool and congeal again to what it was. Shak.