CONDUCT, n. [L., to lead. See Duke.]

1. Literally, the act of leading; guidance; command. So Waller has used it. Conduct of armies is a prince's art
2. The art of convoying, or guarding; guidance or bringing along under protection. – Shak.
3. Guard on the way; convoy; escort. – Shak. [These senses are now unusual, though not improper.]
4. In a general sense, personal behavior; course of actions; deportment; applicable equally to a good or bad course of actions; as laudable conduct; detestable conduct. The word seems originally to have been followed with life, actions, affairs, or other term; as, the conduct of life; the conduct of actions; that is, the leading along of life or actions. Young men in the conduct and manage of actions embrace more than they can hold. – Bacon. What in the conduct of our life appears. – Dryden. But by custom, conduct alone is now used to express the idea of behavior or course of life and manners.
5. Exact behavior; regular life. [Unusual.] – Swift.
6. Management; mode of carrying on. Christianity has humanized the conduct of war. – Paley.
7. The title of two clergymen appointed to read prayers at Eton College in England. – Mason.

1. To lead; to bring along; to guide; to accompany and show the way. And Judah came to Gilgal, to conduct the king over Jordan. 2 Sam. xix.
2. To lead; to direct or point out the way; as, the precepts of Christ will conduct us to happiness.
3. To lead; to usher in; to introduce; to attend in civility. Pray receive them nobly, and conduct them Into our presence. – Shak.
4. To give a direction to; to manage; applied to things; as, the farmer conducts his affairs with prudence.
5. To lead, as a commander; to direct; to govern; to command; as, to conduct an army or a division of troops.
6. With the reciprocal pronoun, to conduct one's self, is to behave. Hence, by a customary omission of the pronoun, to conduct, in an intransitive sense, is to behave; to direct personal actions. [See the noun.]
7. To escort; to accompany and protect on the way.

1. The act or method of conducting; guidance; management.
   
   

   Christianity has humanized the conduct of war.
   Paley.

   The conduct of the state, the administration of its affairs.
   Ld. Brougham.

2. To lead, or guide] to escort; to attend.
   
   

   I can conduct you, lady, to a low
   But loyal cottage, where you may be safe.
   Milton.

3. To act as a conductor (as of heat, electricity, etc.); to carry.
4. Skillful guidance or management; generalship.
   
   

   Conduct of armies is a prince's art.
   Waller.

   Attacked the Spaniards . . . with great impetuosity, but with so little conduct, that his forces were totally routed.
   Robertson.

5. To lead, as a commander; to direct; to manage; to carry on; as, to conduct the affairs of a kingdom.
   
   

   Little skilled in the art of conducting a siege.
   Prescott.

6. To conduct one's self; to behave.
   
   
   [U. S.]
7. Convoy; escort; guard; guide.
   
   
   [Archaic]

   I will be your conduct.
   B. Jonson.

   In my conduct shall your ladies come.
   Shak.

8. To behave; -- with the reflexive; as, he conducted himself well.
9. That which carries or conveys anything; a channel; a conduit; an instrument.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   Although thou hast been conduct of my shame.
   Shak.

10. To serve as a medium for conveying; to transmit, as heat, light, electricity, etc.
11. The manner of guiding or carrying one's self; personal deportment; mode of action; behavior.
    
    

    All these difficulties were increased by the conduct of Shrewsbury.
    Macaulay.

    What in the conduct of our life appears
    So well designed, so luckily begun,
    But when we have our wish, we wish undone?
    Dryden.

12. To direct, as the leader in the performance of a musical composition.
13. Plot; action; construction; manner of development.
    
    

    The book of Job, in conduct and diction.
    Macaulay.

    Conduct money (Naut.), a portion of a seaman's wages retained till the end of his engagement, and paid over only if his conduct has been satisfactory.

    Syn. -- Behavior; carriage; deportment; demeanor; bearing; management; guidance. See Behavior.