PREP-Drop: "conceive" v. "conceive of"

[Wilson Gray]

The OED, as quoted by Mark M.:

" ... now _conceived_ as a desolate, barren region, waterless and
treeless, and with but scanty growth of herbage ..."


IMO, this should be

"... _conceived of_ ..."

But who am I to second-guess the OED?


OTOH, Google yields many examples of the type:

"COUPLE UNABLE TO _CONCEIVE OF_ CHILD

"MARCH 20, 2008 | ISSUE 44•12

"FREEPORT, ME—After six months of attempting to _conceive of_ having
children, local couple Beth and Nathan Jablonski told reporters ..."


-Wilson


All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org