Performers are often described as electrifying, especially when they energize and excite their audience. A gymnast's electrifying balance beam routine might elicit a standing ovation from the crowd, and an electrifying scene in a movie might make you gasp out loud in the theater. Electrifying comes from the verb electrify, whose literal meaning, "charge with electricity," dates from 1745 — with the figurative meaning following less than a decade later.