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captivate

verb
/ˈkæptɪveɪt/UK/ˈkæptəˌveɪt/US/ˈkæptɪvət/UK/ˈkæptəˌvət/US

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin captīvātus, the perfect passive participle of captīvō (“to capture”), from Latin captīvus (“captive, prisoner”) (ultimately from capiō (“to capture, seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to hold; to seize”)) + -ō (suffix forming first-conjugation verbs). Equivalent to captive + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

  1. derived from *kap-<id:seize>✻
  2. derived from captīvus — “captive, prisoner”
  3. learned borrowing from captīvātus

Definitions

  1. To make (a person, an animal, etc.) a captive

    To make (a person, an animal, etc.) a captive; to take prisoner; to capture, to subdue.

    • Hovv ill-beſeeming is it in thy Sex, / To triumph like an Amazonian Trull, / Vpon their VVoes, vvhom Fortune captiuates?

  2. To capture or control (the mind, etc.)

    To capture or control (the mind, etc.); to subdue, to subjugate.

    • Hee hath no skill in Rhetoricke, nor can hee vvith a preface fore-ſtall and captivate the Gentle Readers good vvill: nor careth he greatly to knovve it.
    • They that are vviſe, had rather haue their iudgements at libertie in differences of readings, then to be captiuated to one, vvhen it may be the other.
    • 'Tis a greater credit to know the ways of captivating Nature, and making her subserve our purposes, than to have learned all the intrigues of policy.

  3. To attract and hold (someone's) attention and interest

    To attract and hold (someone's) attention and interest; to charm, to entrance, to fascinate, to enchain.

    • Hir ſlippers rauyſhed his eyes, hir bewtye captyuated his mynde, with the swerde ſmote ſhe of his neck.
    • [L]oe thus my ſtrength is tride. / And this I do to captiuate the eye, / Of the faire breeder that is ſtanding by.
    • Besides, Rose Bradwardine, beautiful and amiable as we have described her, had not precisely the sort of beauty or merit which captivates a romantic imagination in early youth.
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. Made captive

      Made captive; taken prisoner; captured, subdued.

      • Tuſh, vvomen haue bene captiuate ere novv.
      • VVhat is Gods houſe in Caſtle pent, but like that Arke of bliſſe / In Balaims temple Captivate? Ech place a priſon is.

The neighborhood

Derived

captivated, captivating, captivator, captivatrix, decaptivate, recaptivate, uncaptivate

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at captivate. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01captivate02control03experiment04controlled05resulting06follows07follow08catching09captivating10captivates

A definitional loop anchored at captivate. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at captivate

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA