verb (used with object)
- to affect by witchcraft or magic; cast a spell over.
- to enchant; charm; fascinate: The painter bewitched the crowd with his latest work.
verb (used without object)
- to cause someone to be enchanted; cast a spell over someone: She lost her power to bewitch.
verb (tr)
- to attract and fascinate; enchant
- to cast a spell over
c.1200, biwicchen, from be- + Old English wiccian “to enchant, to practice witchcraft” (see witch). Literal at first, figurative sense of “to fascinate” is from 1520s. *Bewiccian may well have existed in Old English, but it is not attested. Related: Bewitched; bewitching; bewitchingly.