spellbound

English

Alternative forms

• spell-bound

Etymology

From spell +‎ bound.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈspɛlˌbaʊnd/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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Adjective

spellbound (comparative more spellbound, superlative most spellbound)

1. Under the influence of a magical spell; enchanted, bewitched, or supernaturally constrained.
   • 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 41:

     At once he sniffed the smell of man. At once he feared his hidden lair had been looted while he slept. How had a man dared to come so close? He must have trod next to the dragon's head so as not to be spellbound.

2. Fascinated by something; entranced as if by a spell; captivated.

   The story left the children spellbound.

Related terms

• spellbind

Translations

fascinated by something; entranced as if by a spell

Bulgarian: омагьосан (bg) (omagjosan), запленен (bg) (zaplenen) Catalan: embadalit (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 如痴如醉 (rúchīrúzuì) Czech: okouzlený, očarovaný, uhranutý (cs), fascinovaný (cs) Dutch: betoverd (nl) Faroese: trøllabundin Finnish: lumoutunut, haltioitunut French: envoûté (fr), fasciné (fr) German: gebannt (de), bezaubert (de) Italian: affascinato (it), incantato (it), ammaliato (it), trasognato (it) Norwegian: trollbundet Polish: oczarowany, zafascynowany Portuguese: encantado (pt), fascinado (pt) Russian: очаро́ванный (ru) (očaróvannyj), зачаро́ванный (ru) (začaróvannyj), заворо́женный (ru) (zavoróžennyj) Serbo-Croatian: opčinjenost (sh), fasciniranost Sicilian: pircantatu Spanish: embobado (es) Swedish: trollbunden (sv) Tagalog: nabighani Ukrainian: зачаро́ваний (začaróvanyj)