Fascination

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Fascination \Fas`ci*na"tion\, n. [L. fascinatio; cf. F.
     fascination.]
     1. The act of fascinating, bewitching, or enchanting;
        enchantment; witchcraft; the exercise of a powerful or
        irresistible influence on the affections or passions;
        unseen, inexplicable influence.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              The Turks hang old rags . . . upon their fairest
              horses, and other goodly creatures, to secure them
              against fascination.                  --Waller.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The state or condition of being fascinated.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. That which fascinates; a charm; a spell.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              There is a certain bewitchery or fascination in
              words.                                --South.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  fascination
       n 1: the state of being intensely interested (as by awe or
            terror) [syn: {captivation}]
       2: a feeling of great liking for something wonderful and
          unusual [syn: {captivation}, {enchantment}, {enthrallment}]
       3: the capacity to attract intense interest; "he held the
          children spellbound with magic tricks and other
          fascinations"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  132 Moby Thesaurus words for "fascination":
     admiration, affinity, agacerie, allure, allurement, amaze,
     amazement, animal magnetism, appeal, astonishment, astoundment,
     attraction, attractiveness, awe, awesomeness, bedevilment,
     beguilement, beguiling, beguilingness, bent, bewilderment,
     bewitchery, bewitchment, bias, blandishment, breathless wonder,
     bug, cajolery, captivation, charisma, charm, charmingness,
     come-hither, complex, compulsion, craze, crazy fancy, draw,
     dumbfoundment, enchantingness, enchantment, enthrallment,
     enthusiasm, enthusiasticalness, enticement, enticingness,
     entrancement, entrapment, extraordinariness, fancy, favor,
     fixation, fixed idea, flirtation, forbidden fruit, furor, furore,
     glamorousness, glamour, hang-up, hypercathexis, idee fixe,
     illusion, inclination, inducement, infatuation, influence,
     interest, inveiglement, invitation, irresistible impulse, leaning,
     magic, magnetism, mania, manic-depressive psychosis, marvel,
     marveling, marvelousness, maya, miraculousness, monomania,
     morbid drive, mutual affinity, mutual attraction, mysteriousness,
     mystery, numinousness, obsession, obsessive compulsion, partiality,
     passion, penchant, phenomenalness, possession, predilection,
     preference, preoccupation, prepossession, proclivity,
     prodigiousness, propensity, pull, puzzlement, rage, remarkableness,
     ruling passion, seducement, seduction, seductiveness,
     sense of mystery, sense of wonder, sex appeal, snaring, sorcery,
     stupefaction, stupendousness, surprise, sympathy, tantalization,
     temptation, tic, turn, winning ways, winsomeness, witchcraft,
     witchery, wonder, wonderfulness, wonderment, wondrousness,
     wooing