Library / English Dictionary

TRANSFIX

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: transfixt   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pierce with a sharp stake or point

Example:

impale a shrimp on a skewer

Synonyms:

empale; impale; spike; transfix

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "transfix" is one way to...):

pierce; thrust (penetrate or cut through with a sharp instrument)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "transfix"):

pin (pierce with a pin)

spear (pierce with a spear)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

To render motionless, as with a fixed stare or by arousing terror or awe

Example:

The snake charmer fascinates the cobra

Synonyms:

fascinate; grip; spellbind; transfix

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "transfix" is one way to...):

interest (excite the curiosity of; engage the interest of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

Whipping the other from his belt, he sent it skimming some few feet from the earth with so true an aim that it struck and transfixed the stork for the second time ere it could reach the ground.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It has never been transfixed.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Well, you too have power over me, and may injure me: yet I dare not show you where I am vulnerable, lest, faithful and friendly as you are, you should transfix me at once.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)