dread fascinations

Noun

dread fascination (countable and uncountable, plural dread fascinations)

1. A malignant supernatural influence produced by the evil eye.
   • Fair was Eutelidas once, with his beautiful hair, But admiring his face in the stream, on himself he inflicted A dread fascination, and wasted away with disease.1895, Frederick Thomas Elworthy, The Evil Eye, →ISBN, page 43
2. A response to something characterized by staring, an inability to move or intervene, and feelings of dread.
   • Her heart beat so fast that it nearly stified her; she stared in dread fascination at that spectral figure, which was Hugo and yet which was not Hugo, for the face was pale and transparent, the eyes shone strangely — he looked altogether unearthly.1886, Edna Lyall, In the Golden Days, page 167
3. An obsessive interest in something that evokes feelings of fear or that hurts the person with the interest.
   • In Cincinnati, in Boston, wherever he has been, he has secured the sympathy of the best portion of the community, and has[]been the means of rescuing thousands from the dread fascinations of this modern Circe.1845 February 18, “Mr. [Jonathan Harrington] Green, the Reformed Gambler”, in [Horace Greeley], editor, New-York Daily Tribune, volume IV, number 270 (1201 overall), New York, N.Y.: Greeley &...