HYPNOTISM • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Hypnotism

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/hˈɪpnətˌɪzəm/ Listen

noun

Hypnotism n.

A form of sleep or trance, in some respects resembling somnambulism, but brought on by artificial means, in which there is an unusual suspension of some powers, and an unusual activity of others, especially a heightened susceptibility to suggestion. It is induced by an action upon the nerves, through the medium of the senses, by causing the subject to gaze steadily at a very bright object held before the eyes, or on an oscillating object, or by pressure upon certain points of the surface of the body, usually accompanied by the speaking of the hypnotist in quiet soothing tones. Called also hypnosis.

The science which deals with the induction and properties of the hypnotic state.

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Etymology of 'Hypnotism'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Hypnotism" Quotes from Famous Books

... to give the scene social grace, no music or flowers to give it poetry, no minister to give it an odor of sanctity. It was marriage in its cold, business-like actuality, without hypnotism, superstition, or false pretense. Small wonder that Kedzie had hardly left the marriage-room before she felt that she was not married at all. The vaccination had not taken. She was not one with Gilfoyle. And yet she ...

— We Can't Have Everything • Rupert Hughes

... charm of the strange girl's golden voice, or the subtle air of luxury and independence combined with a faint odour of Russian leather and honey that stole from the furs of Lady Diana Vernilands, none can tell, but the inspector behaved like a man under the influence of hypnotism. He listened to the tale of the second-class ticket as to words of Holy Writ, and departed like a man in a dream without having uttered a single protest, and at Lady Diana's behest, carefully locking the door behind him. A moment later whistles, shouts, and the clicking ...

— Blue Aloes - Stories of South Africa • Cynthia Stockley

... once, to Nona, he said, "I don't know what happened. They talk about self-hypnotism. Perhaps it was that. I know I made a most frightful effort saying 'Young Perch.' I had to. I could see her—that poor terrified thing. Something had to be done. Some one had to go to her. I said it like in a nightmare, ...

— If Winter Comes • A.S.M. Hutchinson

... are proof against the subtlest forms of hypnotism. Gorman had escaped from the influence of his church. He would flip a sterilised lancet across a glass slab with his finger and laugh in the face of the surgeon who owned it. He walked with buoyant confidence into ...

— Gossamer - 1915 • George A. Birmingham

... this purity is sullied, and the veils are only worn out imperfectly and thus reveal this and that object at this and that time as ordinary knowledge (mati), testimony (s'ruta), supernatural cognition, as in trance or hypnotism (avadhi), and direct knowledge of the thoughts of others or thought reading (mana@hparyaya). In the state of release however there is omniscience (kevala-jnana) and all things are simultaneously known to the perfect (kevalin) as they are. In the sa@msara stage the soul always ...

— A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 1 • Surendranath Dasgupta

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