Rap"ture (răp"t&usl;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.
Rap"ture, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Raptured (-t&usl;rd; 135); p. pr. & vb.
n. Rapturing.] To transport with excitement; to
enrapture. [Poetic] Thomson.
