enchain

[ en-cheyn ]

verb (used with object)

1. to bind in or as in chain or chains; fetter; restrain:

   to be enchained by ignorance and superstition.

2. to hold fast, as the attention.

enchain

/ ɪnˈtʃeɪn /

verb

1. to bind with chains
2. to hold fast or captivate (the attention, etc)

Derived Forms

• enˈchainment, noun

Other Words From

• en·chainment noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of enchain¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French enchainer, enchaener. See en- ¹, chain

Example Sentences

At every approach of horseman, cart, or carriage, I turned fearfully, certain I should see some minister of injustice come to enchain us.

From Literature

The passion that oozes out of this duet, ‘I adore you, I embrace you, I desire you, I enchain you’, is so frank and sensual it almost turns its audience - remember they are in the room too - into voyeurs, awkwardly witnessing the private interchange of two weirdly uninhibited strangers.

From Literature

Writing his great Dictionary, Samuel Johnson was won round to this democratic state of affairs: ‘sounds are too volatile and subtile for legal restraints; to enchain syllables, and to lash the wind, are equally the undertakings of pride.’

From Time

In 1750, Samuel Johnson wrote that a good biography can “enchain the heart by an irresistible interest.”

From The New Yorker

Tie your knots, she sang again and again, enchain! — enchain! — enchain me!

From Literature

Related Words

• complicate
• confuse
• embarrass
• embroil
• enmesh
• ensnare
• entrap
• implicate
• intertwine
• interweave
• perplex
• snare
• snarl
• tangle
• unsettle