English
charm
Pronunciation
  • (GA) IPA: /tʃɑɹm/
  • (RP) IPA: /tʃɑːm/
Noun

charm

  1. An object, act or words believed to have magic power (usually carries a positive connotation).
    a charm against evil
    It works like a charm.
  2. The ability to persuade, delight or arouse admiration; often constructed in the plural.
    He had great personal charm.
    She tried to win him over with her charms.
    • 1717, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: Printed by W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], OCLC 43265629 ↗, canto V:
      Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book 8”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:
      the charm of beauty's powerful glance
  3. A small trinket on a bracelet or chain, etc., traditionally supposed to confer luck upon the wearer.
    She wears a charm bracelet on her wrist.
  4. (physics) A quantum number of hadrons determined by the quantity of charm quarks & antiquarks.
  5. (finance) A second-order measure of derivative price sensitivity, expressed as the instantaneous rate of change of delta with respect to time.
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Translations Translations
  • Russian: очарова́ние
  • Spanish: encanto
Translations Verb

charm (charms, present participle charming; past and past participle charmed)

  1. To seduce, persuade or fascinate someone or something.
    • {{RQ:Milton PL|book=1|passage=They, on their mirth and dance / Intent, with jocund music charm his ear.
    He charmed her with his dashing tales of his days as a sailor.
  2. (transitive) To use a magical charm upon; to subdue, control, or summon by incantation or supernatural influence.
    • 1611 April (first recorded performance)​, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene ii]:
      No witchcraft charm thee!
    After winning three games while wearing the chain, Dan began to think it had been charmed.
  3. To protect with, or make invulnerable by, spells, charms, or supernatural influences.
    • 1611 April (first recorded performance)​, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene iii]:
      I, in my own woe charmed, / Could not find death.
    She led a charmed life.
  4. (obsolete, rare) To make music upon.
    • Here we our slender pipes may safely charm.
  5. To subdue or overcome by some secret power, or by that which gives pleasure; to allay; to soothe.
    • 1708, Alexander Pope, Ode for Music on St Cecilia's Day:
      Music the fiercest grief can charm.
Synonyms Translations Translations Noun

charm (plural charms)

  1. The mixed sound of many voices, especially of birds or children.
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IV:
      Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet, / With charm of earliest Birds
    • free liberty to chant our charms at will
    • 1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber 2005, p. 152:
      The laughter rose like the charm of starlings.
  2. A flock, group (especially of finches).


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