TRANSFIX (transfixt)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: transfixt   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does transfix mean? 

• TRANSFIX (verb)
  The verb TRANSFIX has 2 senses:

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

2. pierce with a sharp stake or point

  Familiarity information: TRANSFIX used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRANSFIX (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they transfix    ... he / she / it transfixes   
Past simple: transfixed   
Past participle: transfixed   
-ing form: transfixing   

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 "transfix" is one way to...):

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

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Pierce with a sharp stake or point

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

empale; impale; spike; transfix

Context example:

impale a shrimp on a skewer

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

pierce; thrust (penetrate or cut through with a sharp instrument)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "transfix"):

pin (pierce with a pin)

spear (pierce with a spear)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

I was that energetic person, and I have satisfied myself that by no exertion of my strength can I transfix the pig with a single blow.

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

But poor Jo never got her laugh, for she was transfixed upon the threshold by a spectacle which held her there, staring with her mouth nearly as wide open as her eyes.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

As we advanced together through the woods we found the ape-men lying thick, transfixed with spears or arrows.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She was first transfixed with surprise, and then electrified with delight.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But with me there is a limit, and when I find a man who keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece, then I begin to give myself virtuous airs.

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

I must have pinched up a piece of loose skin and have transfixed it, for there are two little red points like pin-pricks, and on the band of her nightdress was a drop of blood.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

From the higher sides of the cog the bowmen could shoot straight down, at a range which was so short as to enable a cloth-yard shaft to pierce through mail-coats or to transfix a shield, though it were an inch thick of toughened wood.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This long screw would have transfixed it and drawn it up with a single pull.

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

He transfixed me with two sharp, steely eyes.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

No; you shall tear yourself away, none shall help you: you shall yourself pluck out your right eye; yourself cut off your right hand: your heart shall be the victim, and you the priest to transfix it.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)