besot

The verb "besot" means to make someone foolishly infatuated or, in its older use, to make someone drunkenly addled. It is much more than mere liking; it suggests an intense fixation where judgment is clouded by desire or delight.

Unlike simple attraction, besot implies total surrender to a person or thing. In stories, a character might become besotted with another's wit, kindness, or beauty, losing themselves in the object of their devotion. While the word is most common in romantic contexts (for example, "He was utterly besotted with her"), it can also describe obsession with a hobby, collection, or idea that dominates one's attention.

Historically, the verb could mean being "sot" or senseless from either passion or drink, so it often had a cautionary edge: being led off course by one emotion too strongly. In modern English the best-known use is still romantic, but it also fits any fixation so intense that it crowds out practical thought.