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

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:24 PM -0500 12/8/08, Wilson Gray wrote:
>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 ..."
>
Well, I do know a number of couples who find it difficult to conceive
of having children...

LH

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