Mesmerize
Etymology
From Franz Anton Mesmer, an 18th-century physician who claimed to heal by manipulating an invisible force he called "animal magnetism"; his practice, "mesmerism," involved putting patients into trance-like states. Though a French royal commission discredited the force itself, his techniques fed into what later became hypnotism. His name survives in the everyday word for being spellbound.
verb · /MEZ-muh-ryze/
To hold someone’s attention so completely that they seem spellbound.
What it names
For captivation so total it resembles a trance — attention that cannot look away.
Example
The crowd was mesmerized by the tightrope walker high above the plaza.
Related idea
To mesmerize is to captivate as if by a trance; to tantalize is to tease with the withheld — one holds you rapt, the other keeps you reaching.