charm
1- a power of pleasing or attracting, as through personality or beauty: charm of manner; the charm of a mountain lake.
- a trait or feature imparting this power.
- charms, attractiveness.
- a trinket to be worn on a bracelet, necklace, etc.
- something worn or carried on one's person for its supposed magical effect; amulet.
- any action supposed to have magical power.
- the chanting or recitation of a magic verse or formula.
- a verse or formula credited with magical power.
- Physics. a quantum number assigned the value +1 for one kind of quark, −1 for its antiquark, and 0 for all other quarks. Symbol: CCompare charmed quark.
- to delight or please greatly by beauty, attractiveness, etc.; enchant: She charmed us with her grace.
- to act upon (someone or something) with or as with a compelling or magical force: to charm a bird from a tree.
- to endow with or protect by supernatural powers.
- to gain or influence through personal charm: He charmed a raise out of his boss.
- to be fascinating or pleasing.
- to use charms.
- to act as a charm.
Origin of charm
1Synonyms for charm
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comcharm
2- blended singing of birds, children, etc.
Origin of charm
2Related Words for charm
magic, beauty, glamour, charisma, appeal, grace, tickle, bewitch, fascinate, enthrall, captivate, please, delight, hypnotize, beguile, cajole, wow, enrapture, attract, mesmerizeExamples from the Web for charm
Contemporary Examples of charm
There is charm, oodles of it, but also a steeliness about Gilkes.
William, Kate, and Jay Z’s Favorite Art Star: Alexander Gilkes' World of Rock Stars and RoyaltyTim Teeman
December 10, 2014
In the end, Stephen did not kill young William, which the knight would claim was due to his charm.
The charm continues when he waxes on—and on—about the immeasurable respect he has for Cumberbatch, his friend of over 15 years.
From ‘The Good Wife’ to ‘The Imitation Game’: Matthew Goode Wages His Charm OffensiveKevin Fallon
November 24, 2014
The system faintly evokes the charm of the Hogwarts houses—without a Sorting Hat, that is.
In the last several months Pyongyang has launched a charm offensive directed at Moscow, Tokyo, and Seoul.
Historical Examples of charm
The charm of the place does not lie so much in detail as in broad effects.
Yorkshire Painted And DescribedGordon Home
The charm of it all, the deathless charm and the astounding veracity!
The Man ShakespeareFrank Harris
I knew—I begin to understand him so well—just how he felt the charm of everything.
The Bacillus of BeautyHarriet Stark
No other form of verse has, therefore, in so great a degree, the charm of freshness.
The Book of Old English BalladsGeorge Wharton Edwards
The charm that held us to this rough place was the abundance of game.
A Woman TenderfootGrace Gallatin Seton-Thompson
charm
1- the quality of pleasing, fascinating, or attracting people
- a pleasing or attractive feature
- a small object worn or kept for supposed magical powers of protection; amulet; talisman
- a trinket worn on a bracelet
- a magic spell; enchantment
- a formula or action used in casting such a spell
- physics an internal quantum number of certain elementary particles, used to explain some scattering experiments
- like a charm perfectly; successfully
- to attract or fascinate; delight greatly
- to cast a magic spell on
- to protect, influence, or heal, supposedly by magic
- (tr) to influence or obtain by personal charmhe charmed them into believing him
Word Origin for charm
charm
2- Southwest English dialect a loud noise, as of a number of people chattering or of birds singing
Word Origin for charm
Word Origin and History for charm
c.1300, "incantation, magic charm," from Old French charme (12c.) "magic charm, magic, spell; incantation, song, lamentation," from Latin carmen "song, verse, enchantment, religious formula," from canere "to sing" (see chant (v.)), with dissimilation of -n- to -r- before -m- in intermediate form *canmen (for a similar evolution, see Latin germen "germ," from *genmen). The notion is of chanting or reciting verses of magical power.
A yet stronger power than that of herb or stone lies in the spoken word, and all nations use it both for blessing and cursing. But these, to be effective, must be choice, well knit, rhythmic words (verba concepta), must have lilt and tune; hence all that is strong in the speech wielded by priest, physician, magician, is allied to the forms of poetry. [Jacob Grimm, "Teutonic Mythology" (transl. Stallybrass), 1883]
Sense of "pleasing quality" evolved 17c. Meaning "small trinket fastened to a watch-chain, etc." first recorded 1865. Quantum physics sense is from 1964. To work like a charm (figuratively) is recorded by 1824.
c.1300, "to recite or cast a magic spell," from Old French charmer (13c.) "to enchant, to fill (someone) with desire (for something); to protect, cure, treat; to maltreat, harm," from Late Latin carminare, from Latin carmen (see charm (n.)). In Old French used alike of magical and non-magical activity. In English, "to win over by treating pleasingly, delight" from mid-15c. Related: Charmed; charming. Charmed (short for I am charmed) as a conventional reply to a greeting or meeting is attested by 1825.
charm
- One of the flavors of quarks, contributing to the charm number-a quantum number-for hadrons.
- A charmed particle is a particle that contains at least one charmed quark or charmed antiquark. The charmed quark was hypothesized to account for the longevity of the J/psi particle and to explain differences in the behavior of leptons and hadrons. See more at flavor.
Idioms and Phrases with charm
charm
In addition to the idioms beginning with charm
- charmed life
- charm the pants off
also see:
- (charm the) pants off
- work like a charm