a1340 R. Rolle Psalter xviii. 1 Haly men þat has þaire conuersacioun in heuen.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 241 ‘Oure conuersacioun’, he zayþ, ‘is ine heuene’, uor þet body is ine þe erþe, þe herte is ine heuen.

c1440 Gesta Romanorum (Harl.) li. 229 Where is his conuersacion but in the Empire of hevene?

1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia sig. Qvi^v This same belefe of y^e present conuersacion of their forefathers and auncetours emonge them.

1611 Bible (King James) Philipp. iii. 20 For our conuersation [1881 R.V. citizenship] is in heauen. View more context for this quotation

1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine iii. 322 They [sc. fish] were improper for offerings, living in an element wherein men had no conversation.

1705 G. Stanhope Paraphr. III. 409 Their Proneness to Idolatry, which a long Conversation in Egypt had disposed them to.

c1340 R. Rolle Prose Treat. 25 And an othir tym he lefte þe conuersacion of alle worldely men..and went into disserte vpon the hilles.

1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos x. 41 Dydo toke grete playsir in his conuersacyon.

1595 W. Allen et al. Conf. Next Succession Crowne of Ingland i. i. 6 That natural instinct which man hath to live in conversation.

1645 J. Milton Colasterion 9 Unfitnes and contrariety frustrates..all the good and peace of wedded conversation.

1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies I. xxv. 320 I shunn'd their Conversation for the little Time I staid at Calecut.

1770 J. Langhorne & W. Langhorne tr. Plutarch Lives (1879) I. 152/1 In the course of long sieges there is usually some conversation with the enemy.

?c1510 tr. Newe Landes & People founde by Kynge of Portyngale sig. Aii^v The men hath conuersacyon with the wymen, who that they ben or who they fyrst mete.

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III iii. v. 30 His conuersation with Shores wife. View more context for this quotation

1649 Bp. J. Hall Resol. & Decisions iv. v. 445 After a conjugall conversation.

1699 J. Potter Archæologiæ Græcæ II. iv. xii. 323 An honest Man, who had love for a marry'd Woman.., might with good Grace beg of her Husband his Wife's Conversation.

1809 T. E. Tomlins Jacob's Law-dict. at Adultery The usual mode of punishing adulterers at present is by action of crim. con. (as it is commonly expressed), to recover damages.

a1626 F. Bacon Considerations War with Spain in Wks. (1874) XIV. 469 Out of long experience in business and much conversation in books.

1679 J. Dryden Troilus & Cressida Ep. Ded. sig. A3^v There is requir'd..a conversation with those Authors..who have written with the fewest faults in prose and verse.

1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 175 By Experience and Conversation with these Bodies, in any Place or Mine.

1702 Eng. Theophrastus 13 Some scholars, by their constant conversation with Antiquity..know perfectly the sense of the Learned dead.

1721 R. Bradley Philos. Acct. Wks. Nature 59 Nor have I had Conversation enough as yet with the Sea to give so ample an Account as I hope to do.

1620 T. Shelton tr. M. de Cervantes Don Quixote IV. xxvii. 210 You may know the Man by the Conversation he keeps.

1673 J. Dryden Marriage a-la-Mode ii. i. 17 A Gentleman, Sir, that understands the Grand mond so well, who has hanted the best conversations.

1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 40 His Domestick conversation and dependents..were all known Papists.

1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 429 That all Conversations in the World have indulged Human Infirmity in this Case.

a1340 R. Rolle Psalter ii. 12 Haldis goed lyf & fayre conuersacioun.

1447 O. Bokenham Lyvys Seyntys (1835) 12 In al hyr conversacyoun bothe pure and clene.

1549 Forme & Maner consecratyng Archebishoppes sig. A.ij^v A manne of verteous conuersacion, and wythoute crime.

1581 J. Marbeck Bk. Notes & Common Places 307 True pietie doth not consist in knowledge & talking, but in the action and conversation.

1611 Bible (King James) Psalms l. 23 To him that ordereth his conuersation aright. View more context for this quotation

1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 117 Your Conversation gives this your Mouth-profession, the lye. View more context for this quotation

a1761 W. Law Comfort Weary Pilgrim (1809) 25 The outward behaviour and visible conversation of Christ while dwelling among men.

1878 J. Morley Carlyle Crit. Misc. 193 The walk and conversation of any commonest person.

1703 N. Rowe Fair Penitent Ded. Publick Conversations..where there is hardly such a thing as being merry, but at another's Expence.

1713 G. Berkeley in Guardian 21 Mar. 2/2 At a publick Conversation of some of the Defenders of this Discourse of Free-Thinking, and others that differed from them.

1740 H. Walpole Corr. (1820) I. 71 Lady Pomfret has a charming conversation once a week.

1779 S. Johnson Let. 11 Oct. (1992) III. 187 I have been invited twice to Mrs. Vesey's Conversation.

1783 S. Johnson Let. 31 Dec. (1992) I never saw her, unless perhaps, without knowing her, at a conversation.

1787 J. Hawkins Life Johnson 389 It being at a tea-conversation he..went on rhyming thus.

1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 474. ⁋3 None should be admitted into this green Conversation-Piece, except he had broke his Collar-bone thrice.

1763 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting III. i. 43 He imitated the manner of Terburgh, a Dutch painter of conversations.

1795 Hull Advertiser 8 Aug. 2/2 Small portraits in oil, at one guinea..Conversation Pieces in proportion.

1846 E. Head in M. Hutton tr. F. T. Kugler Hand-bk. Hist. Painting II. 289 (note) Waagen calls Terburg ‘the creator of conversation-painting’, meaning that particular branch of genre, which bears the same relation to historical painting on the one side, and to the buffooneries of Jan Steen on the other, that ‘genteel comedy’ bears respectively to tragedy and to farce.

1891 Bookman Oct. 29/2 ‘The Finances of the gods’ is a masterpiece..such an interior—one almost fancies Metsu painting a conversation-piece.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Ecclus. xxxviii. 22 Ne forsothe ther is conuersacioun [a1425 L.V. turning].

1388 Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) Acts xv. 3 Thei telden the conuersacioun of hethene men [L. conversionem Gentium].

1485 W. Caxton tr. Thystorye & Lyf Charles the Grete sig. avj/1 Clodoneus the fyrst crysten kyng whyche regned vpon the frensshe men..hys merueyllous conuersacyon.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Acts xv. A They..declared the conuersacion of the Heythen.

a1570 T. Becon Compar. Lord's Supper & Mass (1844) 357 In the conversation of the bread.

1785 Daily Universal Reg. 1 Jan. 3/2 Sentimental, or Conversation Cards.

1794 Baltimore Daily Intelligencer 27 Sept. 3/3 A new and elegant Edition of the much admired Conversation Cards: Containing a variety of amusing, entertaining, and innocent Questions & Answers in the art of courtship. Each pack contains 64 cards.

1838 (title) Conversation Cards: a book for the amusement of evening parties.

1853 E. C. Gaskell Cranford viii. 152 Another square Pembroke table..on which there was a kaleidoscope, conversation-cards, puzzle-cards.

1793 T. Sheraton App. to Cabinet-maker & Upholsterer's Drawing-bk. 16 The conversation chairs are used in library or drawing-rooms. The parties who converse with each other sit with their legs across the seat, and rest their arms on the top rail, which..is..stuffed and covered.

1861 Englishwoman's Domest. Mag. 3 142 She..sat down upon the conversation-chair.

1755 T. Amory Mem. Ladies 417 To furnish them with chat in their conversation hours.

1905 Eng. Dial. Dict.: Suppl. 74/1 Conversation-lozenge.

1908 M. Findlater & J. Findlater Crossriggs vi [To] confine my speech solely within the limits of the conversation lozenge.

1967 Guardian 9 May 16/5 Terry's of York marked their bicentenary yesterday by selling Victorian ‘conversation lozenges’... Conversation lozenges are stamped with a sentimental proposition: ‘Give me your heart’, ‘I want a wife’.

1784 R. Bage Barham Downs II. 314 The contents of Lord Winterbottom's will, and his packet, I did intend for a conversation piece.

1936 Discovery Dec. 398/1 A biography..well leavened with conversation pieces.

1952 W. Granville Dict. Theatr. Terms 50 Conversation piece, a dialogue play or play other than one of action and excitement; e.g. the plays of George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde.

1958 J. K. Galbraith Affluent Society xvi. 176 Perhaps the bank rate..derived prestige from its position as a Victorian conversation piece.

1962 House & Garden June 96/3 Conversation-piece beakers..decorated with London characters.

1959 P. Bull I know Face ii. 41 ‘Do you do a lot of this kind of work?’ I asked. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I was one of the apes in Tarzan.’ This was a real conversation-stopper.

1985 W. Sheed Frank & Maisie 223 ‘That's a synthetic a priori proposition,’ they would say; and to this day I don't know a better conversation-stopper.

1960 Spectator 15 July 112/3 I read two conversation-stopping headlines over other people's shoulders..‘Fidel Castro raped my teenage daughter’ and..‘Eating places without kitchens spring up’.

1824 L.-M. Hawkins Mem. I. 270 A man with great conversation-talents.

1890 Army & Navy Stores Catal. Mar. 580 Conversation Tubes..each 2s. 9d. to 10s. 6d.

1830 W. Scott Lett. Demonol. & Witchcraft x. 366 The sailor..answered..that in general he conversationed well enough.

1833 New Monthly Mag. 37 12 Three years of friendly conferencizing and conversationing in Downing Street.