Hypertext Webster Gateway: "rapture"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Rapture \Rap"ture\ (r[a^]p"t[-u]r; 135), n. [L. rapere, raptum,
to carry off by force. See {Rapid}.]
1. A seizing by violence; a hurrying along; rapidity with
violence. [Obs.]
That 'gainst a rock, or flat, her keel did dash With
headlong rapture. --Chapman.
2. The state or condition of being rapt, or carried away from
one's self by agreeable excitement; violence of a pleasing
passion; extreme joy or pleasure; ecstasy.
Music, when thus applied, raises in the mind of the
hearer great conceptions; it strengthens devotion,
and advances praise into rapture. --Addison.
You grow correct that once with rapture writ.
--Pope.
3. A spasm; a fit; a syncope; delirium. [Obs.] --Shak.
Syn: Bliss; ecstasy; transport; delight; exultation.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Rapture \Rap"ture\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Raptured} (-t[-u]rd;
135); p. pr. & vb. n. {Rapturing}.]
To transport with excitement; to enrapture. [Poetic]
--Thomson.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
rapture
n 1: a state of being carried away by overwhelming emotion:
"listening to sweet music in a perfect rapture"- Charles
Dickens [syn: {ecstasy}, {transport}, {exaltation}, {raptus}]
2: a state of elated bliss [syn: {ecstasy}]
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