▪ I. charm, n.1
(tʃɑːm)
[ME. charme, a. F. charme charm:—L. carmen song, verse, oracular response, incantation.]
1. a. orig. The chanting or recitation of a verse supposed to possess magic power or occult influence; incantation, enchantment; hence, any action, process, verse, sentence, word, or material thing, credited with such properties; a magic spell; a talisman, etc.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 28521 With charm and coniurisun, wende i womman to bewile. c 1340 Ayenb. 43 Be charmes oþer be wychecreft. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1854 To othere woundes and to broken armes Somme hadden salues and somme hadden charmes. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xx. 19 Ich haue saued with þis charme Of men and of wymmen meny score þousend. c 1400 Destr. Troy 947 Now thies charmys and enchauntementtes are cheuit to noght. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 70 Charme, incantacio. 1533 Bellenden Livy v. (1822) 462 Quhen M. Fabius..wes sittand in his chiar, makand charmis [præfante carmen] of his maner to the sacrifice of Goddis. 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. (1594) 67 The serpent..stoppeth hir eares with hir taile, to the end she may not heare the charmes and sorceries of the inchanter. 1610 Shakes. Temp. v. i. 31 My Charmes Ile breake, their sences Ile restore. 1649 Milton Eikon. Pref. (1851) 336 Any charme, though never so wisely murmur'd. 1676 Dryden Aureng-z. iv. i. 1955 His Name alone..Repeated as a Charm. 1817 Byron Manfred i. i. 35, I call upon ye by the written charm Which gives me power upon you. 1858 J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 46 A charm..denotes any material object or outward act, the possession or use of which is thought to confer safety or blessing, not by natural operation, but by occult virtues inherent in it, or mystical effects appended to it. |
b. Anything worn about the person to avert evil or ensure prosperity; an amulet.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 18 Curse on that Cross..Dead long ygoe, I wote, thou haddest bin, Had not that charme from thee forwarned itt. 1693 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 86 An Amulet or Inchantment and Charm hung about one's neck or wrest against witchcraft. 1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds vii. 84 Dame Fulton tied a charm round her neck to prevent her being wounded by any venomous reptile. 1832 Lander Exp. Niger I. xi. 72 The horse's head was loaded with charms and fetishes. 1838–42 Arnold Hist. Rome (1846) II. xi. 407 He was very much afraid of thunder and lightning and always carried about with him a seal skin, as a charm against its power. |
c. like a charm: wonderfully, perfectly. Also to a charm.
| 1845 Niles' Reg. 25 Oct. 128/1 The new rig works to a charm. 1851 T. A. Burke Polly Peablossom's Wedding 40 Whenever he became refractory, his wife would stick her thimble on the end of her finger, and hold it up for him to look at—it acted like a charm! 1869 P. T. Barnum Struggles & Triumphs viii. 123 He assured me that he should be able to give his imitations ‘to a charm’. 1882 Philad. Press 19 Mar. (Th.), The freezing-out process was applied by Mr. Bliss to Cook, and it worked like a charm. 1934 F. N. Hart Crooked Lane iii. 99 Bill Stirling gave her one the other night, and she said it worked like a charm. 1967 M. Shulman Kill 3 ii. i. 59 ‘It's worked like a charm,’ said West. |
2. fig. (cf. spell.)
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. Prol. 6 Alike bewitched by the charme of lookes. 1665–9 Boyle Occas. Refl. ii. vii, Cards and Company will give them enough to prove a Charm against Thinking. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. iv. 59 On whom the charm of the Roman name had no power. |
3. fig. a. Any quality, attribute, trait, feature, etc., which exerts a fascinating or attractive influence, exciting love or admiration. In pl., esp. of female beauty, great personal attractions.
| [1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 107, I neuer knew a woman so doate vpon a man; surely I thinke you haue charmes, la..Not I, I assure thee; setting the attraction of my good parts aside, I haue no other charmes.] 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. iii. 112 All she said and did was full of Charms. 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock iv. 4 Scornful virgins who their charms survive. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. i. §1 Every thing has, in that stage of life, the charm of novelty to recommend it. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 289 Slights every borrow'd charm that dress supplies. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 29 A mole is considered an additional charm. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 75 When parted by the sea from the charms which had so strongly fascinated him. Mod. (Statue) Venus hiding her charms. |
b. (without pl.) Fascinating quality; charmingness, attractiveness.
| 1830 D'Israeli Chas. I, III. vi. 111 Something of the charm of fiction is thrown into the historical composition. 1878 Morley Diderot I. 41 To Diderot we go not for charm of style, but for a store of fertile ideas. 1877 Mrs. Forrester Mignon I. 5 Her charm is chiefly dependant upon expression. |
c. charms (U.S. slang): Money.
† 4. ? A conjuration, adjuration (cf. charm v. 6).
| a 1734 North Exam. ii. iv. ¶125 She knocked him up at Midnight, with Charms of Secrecy; for, said she, if my Friends come to know I have been with you, I am undone. |
5. A small ornament or trinket worn fastened to a watch-chain or girdle. (From sense 1 b.)
| 1865 Look bef. you Leap I. 227 A small charm in the shape of a heart. 1870 M. Bridgman R. Lynne I. x. 155 Rose's watch and bunch of charms. |
6. Particle Physics. One of the quantum properties or flavours that distinguish the different quarks, being possessed only by the c quark.
| 1964 Bj{obar}rken & Glashow in Physics Lett. XI. 255/1 A new quantum number ‘charm’ is violated only by the weak interaction, and the model predicts the existence of many ‘charmed’ particles. 1975 Physics Bull. Apr. 180/3 The new kind of quark, the c quark, would have the same charge and the same (zero) strangeness as the u quark but one unit of charm where the u, d and s quarks have none. 1981 Sci. Amer. Feb. 65/1 A total of five flavors have definitely been observed (they are called up, down, strange, charm and bottom) and the existence of a sixth flavor (top) is all but certain. |
7. Comb., as charm-reader, charm-ring; charm-bound pple. and adj.; charm-built, charm-like, charm-struck, etc. adjs. charm-bracelet, a bracelet hung with charms (sense 5); charm school, ‘a school in which social graces are taught’ (Webster 1961).
| 1800 Coleridge Piccolom. i. ix, Inextricably..In this name hath my destiny *charm-bound me. 1804 Leyden Mermaid ad fin., The charm-bound sailors. |
| [1910 W. J. Locke Simon Jester ii. 20 She held up her bracelet, from which dangled some charms.] 1941 L. P. Benjamin in J. C. Furnas How America Lives (1943) 254 The capable little hands..are so bedecked with *charm bracelets. 1959 Guardian 31 Aug. 4/2 The latest fifth-form ‘gimmick’, in the shape of..a charm bracelet. |
| 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. ii. 69 Amid her *charm-built towers. |
| 1868 Ld. Houghton Select. fr. Wks. 162 *Charm-engirdled isle. |
| 1886 Cornh. Mag. July 55 The *charm-reader, the fortune-teller and the medicine man. |
| 1877 W. Jones Finger-ring L. 133 In the Braybrooke Collection is a bone *charm-ring. |
| 1950 C. M. Kornbluth Little Black Bag in Best SF Stories (1968) 76 I'm going to go to *charm school. 1962 ‘L. Grex’ Terror Wears a Smile viii. 126 Steve Blaine might be top of his class in Charm School, but [etc.]. |
| 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. iii. 115 Mountain-nymph *charm-struck by the night. |
Add: [7.] charm offensive, the adoption of a plausible manner or cooperative approach as an expedient strategy for achieving a goal (esp. in Pol.).
| 1979 Summary of World Broadcasts: Far East (B.B.C.) 18 Apr. a3/12 Sihanouk, ‘who has launched a veritable {oqq}*charm offensive{cqq} towards the Philippines since he retired here [sc. Peking] from political activity, increased his public attentions to the country.’ 1993 U.S. News & World Rep. 11 Jan. 18/3 Instead of taking a hard line, the official expects Hussein to emphasize a new ‘reasonableness’... If the ‘charm offensive’ fails, U.S. officials fear a resumption of military probing and acts of terrorism. |
▪ II. charm, n.2
(tʃɑːm)
Also 6 charme.
[A dialectal variant of cherme, a common 16th c. form of chirm, q.v. Perhaps some fancied association with charm n.1, or with L. carmen, may have contributed to give this form its literary standing; for an original chirm would naturally give later cherm and churm, but not charm, (cf. fir, first, bird, dirt, none of which become ar).]
1. The blended singing or noise of many birds; the blended voices of school-children, and the like.
| [1530 Palsgr. 617/2 What a cherme these byrdes make, comment ces oyseaux jargonnent.] 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke (1548) 31 b, The hymne..which that same heauenly quier of Aungels..syng all together in one charme. 1580 H. Gifford Gilloflowers (1875) 97, I..listened..Unto the small birdes chirping charme. 1584 Peele Arraignm. Paris i. iii. 12 Hark, Flora, Faunus, here is melody, A charm of birds. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 642 Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, With charm of earliest Birds. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S.C. 233 Thousands of starlings, the noise of whose calling to each other is indescribable..the country folk call it a ‘charm’, meaning a noise made up of innumerable lesser sounds, each interfering with the other. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk. s.v., The coppy's all on a charm. Ibid. Whad a charm them childern bin makin i' school. 1886 W. Barnes Dorset Dial. Charm, a noise or confusion of voices, as of children or birds. |
† 2. Song or singing: a. of a bird; b. of men.
| 1587 Churchyard Worth. Wales (1876) 102 The chirp and charme, and chaunt of euery bird. 1604 Drayton Owle 38 The small Birds warbled their harmonious Charmes. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. i. xviii. 5 If..Mævius chaunt his thoughts in brothell charm. |
3. A company or flock (of finches, etc.). Cf. chirm n. 3.
| 1810 J. Strutt Sports & Pastimes i ii. 33 A charm of goldfinches. 1930 E. W. Hendy Wild Exmoor xvi. 245 A ‘charm’ of goldfinches joined them. 1936 C. R. Acton Sport New Forest ii. 43 A Forester speaks of a swarm of bees as a ‘Charm’, which expression arises from the Saxon ‘cyrm’, a cluster. |
▪ III. charm, v.1
(tʃɑːm)
[a. F. charme-r (13th c. in Littré), f. charme charm n.1]
1. trans. To act upon with or as with a charm or magic, so as to influence, control, subdue, bind, etc.; to put a spell upon; to bewitch, enchant.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2411 Any hymen he charmeþ so, þat hy ne myȝte a-wakye noȝt. c 1440 York Myst. xxxiii. 288 He enchaunted and charmed oure knyghtis. 1535 Coverdale Jer. viii. 17, I will sende Cockatrices & serpentes amonge you (which will not be charmed). 1591 Florio Sec. Frutes 13 It is good to drinke in a morning to charme the mist. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 128 Each of these animals have a power of fascinating, or charming birds. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxiv. 243 They wanted me to charm or cure him. Mod. Many people still believe in charming warts. |
b. Const. to and inf. (obs.), from. Also † fig. To persuade or induce to, to dissuade from.
| 1594 Greene Fr. Bacon ix, If thou canst by magic charm The fiend..From pulling down the branches of the tree. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iv. i. 129 Ile Charme the Ayre to giue a sound. 1607 ― Timon iv. iii. 454 Has almost charm'd me from my Profession, by perswading me to it. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. i. (1691) 31 As if Men could be charmed to transplant themselves from their own Native..Country merely by Words. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc viii. 440 Nor all her hellish arts Can charm my arrows from their destin'd course. |
c. With various extensions; e.g.: to charm asleep, charm away, charm out, etc.
| 1549 Coverdale Erasm. Par. Gal. 8 He..that..charmyng out your christian mynde hath by enchauntment cast you into this frensye. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. ii. 39 This Hydra-Sonne of Warre..Whose dangerous eyes may well be charm'd asleepe. 1611 ― Cymb. i. vi. 117 'Tis your Graces That from my mutest Conscience, to my tongue, Charmes this report out. 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock v. 20 Oh! if to dance all night, and dress all day, Charm'd the small-pox, or chas'd old-age away. 1762 Goldsm. Nash 26. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace i. Wks. VIII. 232 To charm that rich prize out of the iron gripe of robbery. 1806 Canning Poet. Wks. (1827) 56 'Twill charm away the fiends. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xxi, When Science..charms Her secret from the latest moon. 1859 ― Vivien 330 The charm so taught will charm us both to rest. |
2. To endow with supernatural powers or virtues by means of charms; esp. to fortify against evil or dangers.
| a 1564 Becon Humble Supplic. in Prayers, etc. (1844) 234 The bishop mumbleth a few Latin words over the child, charmeth him, crosseth him. c 1590 Marlowe Faust. vii. 56 Then charm me that I may be invisible. c 1611 Chapman Iliad iv. (R.) Feed not the Grecians pride; They are not charm'd against your points of steele, nor iron fram'd. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. v. iii. 68, I, in mine owne woe charm'd, Could not finde death. |
† b. To mark with a symbol as a charm. Obs.
| 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1338/4 A grey Mare..charm'd upon the 4 fetter-lock joints. |
3. intr. To work charms, use enchantments or spells, practise magic.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 342 Thus charmed Neptanabus. a 1340 Hampole Psalter lvii[i]. 5 He charmys swa wisely in his crafte. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. x. (1495) 763 She heryth not the voys of the charmyng nother comyth out to hym that charmyth. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lvii[i]. 5 That she shulde not heare the voyce of the charmer, charme he neuer so wysely. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. i. 163. 1662 R. Mathew Unl. Alch. §71. 94, I do..give my enemies leave to charm against my Pill. |
4. To overcome or subdue, as if by magic power; to calm, soothe, allay, assuage. † to charm the tongue: (formerly a very common phrase for) to keep it silent.
| c 1540 Play Wit & Sc. (1848) 37 Fall you to kyssyng, syr..Your mother shall charme you, go your wayes. 1547–64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. xi. (Palfr.) 170 Charme thy tongue, thy belly, and thy privities. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. ix. 39 A person..That well could charme his tongue, and time his speach. 1602–9 A. Munday Palm of Eng. i. xii, Beroald..receiving him at the point of his launce charmed his attempt. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. v. 254 The stench of His corps could be charmed with no embalming. 1708 Pope Ode St. Cecilia 118 Music the fiercest grief can charm. 1799 Campbell Pleas. Hope i. 285 Mercy gave, to charm the sense of woe, Ideal peace. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 670 The sound of their own language..charmed their rage for the moment. |
5. fig. To influence, enthral, powerfully attract or engage (the mind, senses, etc.) by beauty, sweetness, or other attractive quality; to fascinate, captivate, bewitch, enchant, delight.
In Shakespeare's time, still a strong metaphor from sense 1; but now, from constant use, applied without any thought of this connexion.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 70 Charmyn, begylyn or forspekyn, fascino. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. ii. 19 Fortune forbid my out-side haue not charm'd her. 1610 ― Temp. iv. i. 178 So I charm'd their eares That Calfe-like they my lowing follow'd. 1665–9 Boyle Occas. Refl. (1675) 360 The moderate Beauty they disclose to the Eye (which is sufficient to please, though not to charm it). 1667 Milton P.L. i. 787 They..with jocond Music charm his ear. 1710 Swift Lett. (1768) III. 17 That's something charms me mightily about London. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 279 ¶3 He every where charms and pleases us by the Force of his own Genius. 1716–8 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. x. 33, I was perfectly charmed with the empress. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 124 What always charmed him in Racine and Boileau..was that they said what they intended to say. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 491, I can tell you a charming tale..And we, Socrates..shall be charmed to listen. |
b. absol.
| 1704 Pope Spring 76 If Sylvia smiles..vanquish'd nature seems to charm no more. 1732 ― Ess. Man. ii. 200 The fiery soul abhorr'd in Catiline, In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine. 1847 Tennyson Princ. Concl. 107 We..sat on, So much the gathering darkness charm'd. |
† 6. To conjure, entreat (a person) in some potent name. Obs.
| 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 16 She Pyram drencht, and then thus charmes: Speake loue, O speake, how hapned this to thee? 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. i. 271 Vpon my knees, I charme you, by my once commended Beauty..That you vnfold to me..Why you are heauy. a 1734 North Exam. ii. iv. ¶15. 239 His learned Counsel..made an Harangue, charming him to be free..in answering to his Questions. |
† 7. [Prob. with some assoc. with charm n.2] To temper, tune, play (an instrument or melody).
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Oct. 118 Here we our slender pipes may safely charme. 1595 ― Col. Clout (T.) Charming his oaten pipe unto his peers. 1596 ― F.Q. v. ix. 13 Like as the fouler on his guilefull pype Charmes to the birds full many a pleasant lay. 1609 Dekker Gull's Horn-bk. (1812) 32 O what songs will I charm out. |
b. intr. (of an instrument): To sound harmoniously. See charming ppl. a. 3.
▪ IV. charm v.2
dial. var. of chirm: cf. charm n.2
| 1881 Daily News 18 Jan. 5/1 The ducks and widgeons go on ‘charming’. |