enchain

As Johnson wrote, “to enchain syllables, and to lash the wind, are equally the undertakings of pride, unwilling to measure its desires by its strength.”

From Slate ● May 31, 2012

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

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

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

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

There was no detail to enchain attention, nothing to obscure free vision; the soul in him, grand super-bird, took flight.

From The Promise of Air by Algernon Blackwood

A grey church tower, a windmill, or the dark-brown sail of a wherry in the distance breaks the sense of utter loneliness, but the scene is wild enough to enchain the imagination of many. 

From The Handbook to the Rivers and Broads of Norfolk & Suffolk by G. Christopher Davies

It would do as great things now, if it were divorced from the degrading and tyrannical connection that enchains it.

From Coningsby by Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield

At the same time that it unchains princes and breaks for them the ties of the social pact, it enchains the minds and the hands of their oppressed subjects.

From Superstition In All Ages (1732) Common Sense by Anna Knoop

Yet enchains she not Others unto the like.

From The Legendary and Poetical Remains of John Roby author of 'Traditions of Lancashire', with a sketch of his literary life and character by John Roby

A new novel by a new writer, which enchains our attention from the very first sentence of the first page, is a pleasant surprise.

From Hand and Ring by Anna Katharine Green

But in these dramas we rarely miss the interest and charm of a dramatic story, which provokes the curiosity and enchains the attention.

From Handbook of Universal Literature From the Best and Latest Authorities by Anne C. Lynch Botta

When we first encounter the character, enchained in the dungeon at the opening of Act II, Florestan rises from exhaustion and cries out, “Gott! welch’ Dunkel hier!”

From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2017

“With regard to black people, I think they are tired of seeing themselves enchained and downtrodden.”

From New York Times ● May 18, 2016

If my imagination weren't enchained by so much witless tradition and conformity, I might tag this segment to some more majestic and impromptu pattern of my own devising, one that reaches clear across the ecliptic.

From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2012

The world gained as a result of the Great War a freedom from the menace of organized militarist imperialism without which all peoples sooner or later would have been enchained in bondage and vassalage.

From Time Magazine Archive

Eisman was enchained, however, by FrontPoint Partners and, by extension, Morgan Stanley.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Notwithstanding, the bright little town ends by enchaining us completely.

From A Midsummer Drive Through the Pyrenees by Edwin Asa Dix

At the last pair De Lara looks not, the first enchaining his attention.

From The Flag of Distress A Story of the South Sea by Mayne Reid

These are some specimens of the company's many devious instrumentalities for enchaining and plundering its thousands of workers.

From History of the Great American Fortunes, Vol. I Conditions in Settlement and Colonial Times by Myers Gustavus

"Mr. Chillingworth had something to relate to him or to propose, of a nature which, perchance, has had the effect of enchaining all his attention—he called him from the room."

From Varney the Vampire Or the Feast of Blood by Thomas Preskett Prest

It appears to me to be written with wonderful power of enchaining the attention.

From The Lost Hunter A Tale of Early Times by John Turvill Adams