Dictionary

magnetizer en · NOUN

Etymology

From magnetize + -er.

Meanings

1. (historical) A practitioner of animal magnetism; a hypnotist.
   • Many times a whole audience will not only be crowded into a small room, but are noisy disbelievers, call it all a humbug, distract the mind of the magnetizer, and added to these, absolutely outwill the magnetizer, in their wish to bring odium upon the science, and carry their points and gain their ends. 1845, Bagg on Magnetism: Or the Doctrine of Equilibrium:
   • From these delusions to those still more fashionable deceptions, practised by the whole tribe of magnetisers, the transition is very natural. 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC:
   • Mesmer had about a hundred people whom he had instructed as magnetisers, some of whom belonged to the nobility, who also "mesmerised" people by making passes over the affected parts of the body. 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 142:
2. Someone or something that imparts magnetism.

Forms