mesmerism - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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From French mesmérisme, analysable as Mesmer + -ism; so called after Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815), a German physician who developed the animal magnetism theory.
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈmɛz.məˌɹɪz.əm/
- (General American, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈmɛz.mɚˌɪz.əm/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈmez.məˌɹɪz.əm/
- Hyphenation: mes‧mer‧ism
mesmerism (countable and uncountable, plural mesmerisms)
- The method or power of gaining control over someone's personality or actions, as in hypnosis or suggestion.
1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 23, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
What is the secret mesmerism which friendship possesses, and under the operation of which a person ordinarily sluggish, or cold, or timid, becomes wise, active, and resolute, in another's behalf?
- The state induced by hypnotic methods (especially that of Mesmer himself).
2010, Mark Twain, Autobiography of Mark Twain, volume 2, page 302:
...the fact stood proven that I had seen it in my vision. Lawks! ...When the magician's engagement closed there was but one person in the village who did not believe in mesmerism, and I was the one. All the others were converted, but I was to remain an implacable and unpersuadable disbeliever in mesmerism and hypnotism for close upon fifty years.
mesmerism
- Finnish: mesmerismi
- Galician: mesmerismo m
- German: Mesmerismus (de) m (historical)
- Hindi: मेस्मरिज्म (hi) m (mesmarijma)
- Korean: 메스머주의 (meseumeojuui)
- Portuguese: mesmerismo (pt) m
- Spanish: mesmerismo (es) m
- Swedish: mesmerism
- “mesmerism”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “mesmerism”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Borrowed from French mesmérisme.
mesmerism n (uncountable)
declension of mesmerism (singular only)
singular | ||
---|---|---|
n gender | indefinite articulation | definite articulation |
nominative/accusative | (un) mesmerism | mesmerismul |
genitive/dative | (unui) mesmerism | mesmerismului |
vocative | mesmerismule |