captivate

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive)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?”

   “Dabuh is the name of a ſimple and baſe creature like a VVolfe, ſaue that his legges and feete are like to a mans: ſo fooliſh, that vvith a ſong, & a Taber, they vvhich knovv his haunt vvill bring him out of his denne, and captiue his eares vvith their muſicke, vvhile another captiuateth his legges vvith a Rope.”

2. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive)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. (figuratively, transitive)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.”

   “One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.” He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis and another boy interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.”

adj

1. (also, figuratively, obsolete, transitive)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.”