enthrill

present singular third person enthrills · participle present enthrilling · participle past enthrilled · past enthrilled · alternative inthrill

1. transitiveTo pierce; penetrate; run through; stab.

   Yea, though Christ from the skies hold out never so moving lures unto us, all of them (haggard like) we will turn tail to, and haste to the iron fist, that holds out nought but a knife to enthrill us.

   1815, Thomas Nash, Christ's tears over Jerusalem

   Synonyms: shank, yerk, chef, chib, ching, chive, foin, gore

2. transitiveTo cause to thrill.

   […] for then a glance from her she knew, Could inthrill his heart, enrapture and control […]

   1839, George Robert Wythen Baxter, Baron George Gordon Byron Byron, Don Juan Junior

   1 more example

   Long years ago, amid the sunny hills Where Arno dashing makes the maddest mirth, A master lived whose melody enthrills, And ever will, the children of the earth.

   1890, William Clark Russell, A marriage at sea

   Synonyms: excite, inspirit, animate, awaken, electrify, enflame, enkindle, exagitate

3. nonstandardtransitiveTo charm; to enthrall.

   She's getting enthrilled by him; she is, my lord. I saw 'em meet just now in the wood.

   1867, Mrs. Henry Wood, Lady Adelaide's oath

   Synonyms: beguile, entrance, allure, arrest, attract, becharm, beguile, bewitch