Dictionary entry

Rapture

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Rap″ture (răp″tū̍r; 135), n. [L. rapere, raptum, to carry off by force. See Rapid.] 1. A seizing by violence; a hurrying along; rapidity with violence.

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. Shak.

Syn. — Bliss; ecstasy; transport; delight; exultation.