SPELLBIND (spellbound)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: spellbound   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does spellbind mean? 

• SPELLBIND (verb)
  The verb SPELLBIND has 3 senses:

1. to render motionless, as with a fixed stare or by arousing terror or awe

2. attract strongly, as if with a magnet

3. put into a trance

  Familiarity information: SPELLBIND used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPELLBIND (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

To render motionless, as with a fixed stare or by arousing terror or awe

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

fascinate; grip; spellbind; transfix

Context example:

The snake charmer fascinates the cobra

Hypernyms (to "spellbind" is one way to...):

interest (excite the curiosity of; engage the interest of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

spellbinder (an orator who can hold his listeners spellbound)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Attract strongly, as if with a magnet

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

bewitch; magnetise; magnetize; mesmerise; mesmerize; spellbind

Context example:

She magnetized the audience with her tricks

Hypernyms (to "spellbind" is one way to...):

charm; influence; tempt (induce into action by using one's charm)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

spellbinder (an orator who can hold his listeners spellbound)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Put into a trance

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

entrance; spellbind

Hypernyms (to "spellbind" is one way to...):

hypnotise; hypnotize; mesmerise; mesmerize (induce hypnosis in)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to spellbind Sue

Derivation:

spellbinder (an orator who can hold his listeners spellbound)

 Context examples 

Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But since Mr. Rochester's visit it seemed spellbound: all the night I heard but three sounds at three long intervals,—a step creak, a momentary renewal of the snarling, canine noise, and a deep human groan.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He next tried to get off his horse and make his way on foot, but again the laugh rang in his ears, and he found himself unable to move a step, and thus he was forced to abide spellbound.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

And straightway that coarse, swollen woman became a queen—the grandest, haughtiest queen that you could dream of—and she turned upon us with such words of fire, such lightning eyes and sweeping of her white hand, that she held us spellbound in our chairs.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)