charm
/tʃɑːm
/noun
1 [mass noun] The power or quality of delighting, attracting, or fascinating others: he was captivated by her youthful charm...
- I'm fascinated by this character trait known as charm or charisma.
- This London hit show took America by storm, full of charm, humour and delightful songs that make it a perfect theatrical event for the entire family.
- But they still retain a kind of charm, which attracts camera-toting tourists round the clock.
Synonyms
appeal, pull, draw, drawing power, attraction, allure, fascination, captivation, pleasingness, delightfulness
1.1 [count noun] (usually charms) An attractive or alluring characteristic or feature: the hidden charms of the city...
- But Winnipeg's a great prairie city, with hidden charms.
- It was in January 1997 that the newspaper noticed her charms and featured her in a photo shoot.
- Judge Brett Cullum thinks this oft-reviled David Lynch feature definitely has its charms, if you know how to approach it.
2A small ornament worn on a necklace or bracelet: the trinkets were charms from his wife’s bracelet...
- Rearranging my charms, necklace and bracelet I make sure I look presentable to a street gang.
- Any trinkets, charms, or ornaments expected of a 17-year-old girl to have in her room would never appear in my mine, because I simply did not own any.
- She held up a variety of decorative necklaces and charms.
Synonyms
ornament, trinket, bauble
archaic bijou
3An object, act, or saying believed to have magic power: the charm begins with ritual instructions...
- Was it a prayer, a magic spell, a charm, or a prediction?
- It is a place that is full of spells and curses, where powerful charms work their magic, and everything is witchcraft and wizardry.
- Not since his first sale of a magic charm was he so concerned over the opinion of his work.
Synonyms
spell, incantation, conjuration, rune, magic formula, magic word, abracadabra, jinx;
sorcery, magic, witchcraft, wizardry;
North American mojo, hex;
New Zealand makutu
3.1An object kept or worn to ward off evil and bring good luck: a good luck charm...
- This charm brings me luck wherever I go for fairies enchanted it.
- Letters, cards, all sorts of miraculous medals and good luck charms have all been winging their way there in recent years.
- After just a fortnight at home, I'd already sold the clothes on my back for a few precious bowls of luck charms.
4 [mass noun] Physics One of six flavours of quark.The charm quark stays effectively at rest inside the baryon because it is much more massive than the up, down and strange quarks....
- Similar fun is had in other fields of science, as for instance by physicists who have named a class of elementary particles quarks, of which charm is one of the flavors.
- These include the charm and top quarks, which are heavy copies of the up quark, and the strange and bottom quarks, which are heavy copies of the down quark.
verb [with object]
1Delight greatly: the books have charmed children the world over...
- But I also could not help but be charmed by the book as a whole.
- Again, each child was welcomed by a smiling elf who brought them to the cubicle where a warm, friendly Santa tried every trick in the book to charm my youngster.
- Her neighbors are equally charmed by the handsome garden that reflects the area's easygoing lifestyle.
Synonyms
delight, please, win, win over, appeal to, attract, captivate, allure, lure, draw, dazzle, fascinate, bewitch, beguile, enchant, enthral, enrapture, enamour, seduce, ravish, hypnotize, mesmerize, spellbind, transfix, rivet, grip
rare rapture
1.1Use one’s ability to please and attract in order to influence (someone): he charmed her into going out...
- Of all the US surrogate candidates and vice-presidential hopefuls, none can touch his ability to charm voters.
- Duke's ability to charm us really comes from the single irony he generates.
- I don't want you to try to charm me or beguile me or do whatever it is you normally do to have your wicked way with women.
Synonyms
coax, cajole, wheedle;
woo
informal sweet-talk, soft-soap
archaic blandish
2Control or achieve by or as if by magic: a gesticulating figure endeavouring to charm a cobra [with adverbial]: she will charm your warts away...
- They then moved the fork whilst in the ground, which apparently charms the worms to the surface when the fork is removed.
- He had laughed, he had charmed me, almost bewitched me.
- Search where you will, you will not see one who can charm a snake like me.
Phrases
turn on the charm
work like a charm
Origin
Middle English (in the senses 'incantation or magic spell' and 'to use spells'): from Old French charme (noun), charmer (verb), from Latin carmen 'song, verse, incantation'.
In the Middle Ages a charm was an incantation or magic spell, and did not acquire its meaning of ‘a quality of fascinating or being attractive to people’ until the 17th century. The word comes from Latin carmen ‘song or incantation’. Compare enchant. In the late 1970s people started talking of politicians mounting a charm offensive, a campaign of flattery and friendliness designed to gain the support of others. This is a fine example of an oxymoron, a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear together.