charm
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: chäm
ipa: /tʃɑːm/
enpr: chärm
ipa: /t͡ʃɑɹm/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)m
Forms: form: charms
form: charming
form: charmed
form: charmed
form: charme
Etymology: From Middle English charme, from Old French charme (“chant, magic spell”), from Latin carmen (“song, incantation”).
Senses: examples: text: He charmed her with his dashing tales of his days as a sailor.
text: […]they, on thir mirth & dance / Intent, with jocond Muſic charm his ear;
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 58:
synonyms: delight
enchant
enamor
entrance
glosses: To seduce, persuade or fascinate someone or something.
examples: text: After winning three games while wearing the chain, Dan began to think it had been charmed.
text: Nor no witch-craft charme thee.
ref: 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 389, column 2:
synonyms: bewitch
enchant
ensorcel
enspell
glosses: To use a magical charm upon; to subdue, control, or summon by incantation or supernatural influence; to ensorcel or exert a magical effect on.
examples: text: She led a charmed life.
text: I, in mine owne woe charm’d, / Could not finde death,[…]
ref: 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 393, column 1:
glosses: To protect with, or make invulnerable by, spells, charms, or supernatural influences.
examples: text: But ah my corage cooles ere it be warme, / For thy, content vs in thys humble ſhade: / Where no ſuch troublous tydes han vs aſſayde, / Here we our ſlender pipes may ſafely charme.
ref: 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “October. Ægloga Decima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 42, recto:
glosses: To make music upon.
examples: text: Music the fierceſt griefs can charm, / And fate's ſevereſt rage diſarm: […]
ref: 1687 (date written), Alexander Pope, “Ode for Musick on St. Cecilia’s Day”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], →OCLC, canto VII, page 378:
glosses: To subdue or overcome by some secret power, or by that which gives pleasure; to allay; to soothe.
Derived terms: anticharm
anti-charm quark
becharm
charmable
charm bracelet
charmer
charmfest
charmful
charming
charmless
charmlet
charmlike
charm offensive
charmonium
charm pricing
charm school
charmstone
charm the birds from the trees
…out of…
charm a bird off a branch
charm up
charmwork
countercharm
decharm
discharm
encharm
exocharmic
like a charm
love charm
lucky charm
outcharm
scharm
scharm squark
third time's a charm
…is the…
…’s the…
three times a charm
uncharm
watch charm