enamor

enamor

English

WOTD – 17 August 2010

Alternative forms

• enamour (British spelling)
• inamor, inamour (both archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English enamouren, a late back-formation from enamoured, itself a partial calque of Old French enamore, past participle of enamorer, enamourer, equivalent to prefix en- +‎ amor +‎ -er. See amour, and confer inamorato.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈnamə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪˈnæmɚ/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -æmə(ɹ)

Verb

enamor (third-person singular simple present enamors, present participle enamoring, simple past and past participle enamored) (American spelling)

1. (mostly in the passive, followed by "of" or "with") To cause to be in love.
   • 1596, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act IV, Scene I:

     Me-thought I was enamoured of an Asse.

   • 1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, OCLC 316392309, Act III:

     By Phœbus, here's a moſt neate fine ſtreete; is't not? I proteſt to thee, I am enamord of this ſtreete now, more then of halfe the ſtreetes of Rome, againe; tis ſo polite, and terſe; [...]

   • 1900, Leo Tolstoy, translated by William E. Smith, The Awakening: The Resurrection Chapter 86

     He was offered a chair in the university and a course abroad. But he hesitated. There was a girl of whom he became enamored, so he contemplated marriage and political activity.

2. (mostly in the passive) To captivate.
   • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], OCLC 864083:

     Passionately enamoured of this shadow of a dream.

Antonyms

• disenamour, disenamor

Translations

to inflame with love

Armenian: դյութել (hy) (dyutʿel), հմայել (hy) (hmayel), գրավել (hy) (gravel), սիրահարեցնել (hy) (siraharecʿnel) Catalan: enamorar (ca) Czech: okouzlit pf Finnish: rakastua (fi) German: erobern (de) Maori: tokomauri Polish: oczarować (pl), rozkochać (pl) Russian: очаровать (ru) (očarovatʹ) Spanish: enamorarse (es), adamar (es) (archaic)

See also

• fall in love, fall out of love
• love, unlove

References

• enamor in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• Anmore, Armeno-, Mareno, Morane, Morena, Ramone, anomer, maenor, marone, menora, moaner, monera, morena, oarmen