fascinate

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
fascinate/ˈfasɪneɪt/

▶verb

• 1 irresistibly attract the interest of.

• 2 archaic deprive (prey) of the ability to resist or escape by the power of a gaze.

– derivatives
fascinating adjective,
fascinatingly adverb.

– origin C16: from L. fascinat-, fascinare ‘bewitch’, from fascinum ‘spell, witchcraft’.