mesmerize

English

Alternative forms

• mesmerise (UK)

Etymology

Back-formation from mesmerism, thus mesmerism +‎ -ize; first attested in 1829.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛzməɹaɪz/

Verb

1. To exercise mesmerism on; to spellbind; to enthrall.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients, page 99:

     Then he commenced to talk, really talk, and inside of two flaps of a herring’s fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt’s boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.

   She mesmerized the audience with her tricks

Synonyms

• (exercise mesmerism on): spellbind, hypnotize, enthrall, fascinate

Translations

to exercise mesmerism on

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 使入迷 (shǐ rùmí), 催眠 (zh) (cuīmián), 著迷 (zh) (zháomí)

• Czech: uchvátit, okouzlit, fascinovat (cs)
• Danish: hypnotisere
• Dutch: betoveren (nl), hypnotiseren (nl)
• Finnish: lumota (fi)
• German: faszinieren (de), fesseln (de) (figuratively); mesmerisieren (medicine, historical)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: delejez (hu), hipnotizál (hu), megigéz (hu)
• Italian: incantare (it)
• Persian: میخکوب کردن (mix-kub kardan)
• Portuguese: hipnotizar (pt), mesmerizar (pt)
• Russian: завораживать (ru) (zavoraživatʹ), гипнотизировать (ru) (gipnotizirovatʹ)
• Slovak: očariť
• Swedish: trollbinda (sv)
• Japanese: 魅了する

See also

• hypnotize

Further reading

• “mesmerize”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “mesmerize”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

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Portuguese

Verb

mesmerize

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