Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To place under one's power by or as if by magic; cast a spell over.
- v. To captivate completely; entrance. See Synonyms at charm.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To subject to the influence of witchcraft; affect by witchcraft or sorcery; throw a charm or spell over.
- To charm; fascinate; please to such a degree as to take away the power of resistance.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To gain an ascendency over by charms or incantations; to affect (esp. to injure) by witchcraft or sorcery.
- v. To charm; to fascinate; to please to such a degree as to take away the power of resistance; to enchant.
WordNet 3.0
- v. attract; cause to be enamored
- v. attract strongly, as if with a magnet
- v. cast a spell over someone or something; put a hex on someone or something
Etymologies
- Middle English biwicchen : probably bi-, be- + wicchen (from Old English wiccian, from wicce, witch, or wicca, sorcerer); see weg- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Together they studied the Bac books, and Barragán began to design patios which would "bewitch" the user, and to pursue his search for an "emotional architecture.”
“Bac’s illustrated books on the art of landscaping - Le CoIombier and the Enchanted Gardens - suggested that gardens should be enchanted places for meditation, with the capacity to "bewitch" the onlooker.”
“I am just trying to suggest that the way we use language, and especially the way we use normative terms in a non-normative sense, can bewitch us even into our thinking within ourselves that we have reached some kind of conclusion, when all we have done is restated our assumptions in an obscure way.”
“If I could bewitch authors with such a spell my top 5 would be:”
Angels' Blood Countdown: Ilona Andrews - The Kate Daniels Series
“Twenty years later, these theories re-emerged in comics like "Pharaon: The Ice Brain," in which spies uncover a Nazi cabal bunkered inside a Tibetan mountain, where they have built a supercomputer "to intoxicate the world and bewitch the people!”
“Imagine, I've become the porridge princess- I can bewitch the oats and water into a pottage that makes the young men laugh and old men cease their laughter- me, an incomer, with not a word of Gaelic and a name that's not an island name, aye, right enough, and laundry on the line on Sunday- do you know my secret?”
“Nonetheless, when the Emperor lay dying, the nightingale returned to bewitch Death and earn the ruler a reprieve.”
“But what you probably don't know about Washington is that the whole city was designed by Masonic warlocks who laid out pentagrams and symbols all over the city in order to create a black-magic engine of pure animal sexuality to bewitch the minds of otherwise decent people, turning them into godless slaves to their horniest of impulses.”
“His grace notes bewitch with casual power: the "oyster of phlegm" spat onto a man's shoe; the way an approaching storm "bruised" the daylight.”
“Moonshine has an added mystique that can bewitch its fans — and stir a writer like "Chasing the White Dog" author Max Watman to set out in search of modern backwoods distillers.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bewitch’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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#faveword
Words chosen as favorites for the Twitter hashtag #faveword.
autumnal, grotto, chiaroscuro, sfumato, homunculus, zing, zest, effervescent, bewitch, avuncular, susurrus, Styrofoam and 205 more...
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I am : mystified
As in, 'confused' and 'entranced' both.
mystify, entrance, enrapture, puzzle, ensorcell, confound, mesmerize, confuse, bewitch, captivate, beguile, fascinate and 11 more...
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Magicial Verbs
enchant, curse, hex, jinx, cast, chant, summon, charm, bewitch
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