En"trance (?), n. [OF. entrance,
fr. OF. & F. entrant, p. pr. of entrer to enter. See
Enter.] 1. The act of entering or going
into; ingress; as, the entrance of a person into a house or an
apartment; hence, the act of taking possession, as of property, or of
office; as, the entrance of an heir upon his inheritance, or
of a magistrate into office.
2. Liberty, power, or permission to enter;
as, to give entrance to friends. Shak.
3. The passage, door, or gate, for
entering.
Show us, we pray thee, the entrance into the
city.
Judg. i. 24.
4. The entering upon; the beginning, or that
with which the beginning is made; the commencement; initiation; as, a
difficult entrance into business. "Beware of
entrance to a quarrel." Shak.
St. Augustine, in the entrance of one of his
discourses, makes a kind of apology.
Hakewill.
5. The causing to be entered upon a register,
as a ship or goods, at a customhouse; an entering; as, his
entrance of the arrival was made the same day.
6. (Naut.) (a) The
angle which the bow of a vessel makes with the water at the water
line. Ham. Nav. Encyc. (b) The bow,
or entire wedgelike forepart of a vessel, below the water line.
Totten.
En*trance" (?), v. t. [imp. &
p. p. Entranced (?); p. pr. & vb.
n. Entrancing (?).] [Pref. en- +
trance.] 1. To put into a trance; to make
insensible to present objects.
Him, still entranced and in a litter laid,
They bore from field and to the bed conveyed.
Dryden.
2. To put into an ecstasy; to ravish with
delight or wonder; to enrapture; to charm.
And I so ravished with her heavenly note,
I stood entranced, and had no room for thought.
Dryden.
