rapture

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: rap=ture

CIDE DICTIONARY

rapture, n. [L. rapere, raptum, to carry off by force. See Rapid.].

•  A seizing by violence; a hurrying along; rapidity with violence.  [1913 Webster]

  "That 'gainst a rock, or flat, her keel did dash
  With headlong rapture."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "Music, when thus applied, raises in the mind of the hearer great conceptions; it strengthens devotion, and advances praise into rapture."  [1913 Webster]

  "You grow correct that once with rapture writ."  [1913 Webster]
•  A spasm; a fit; a syncope; delirium.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

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

rapture, v. t. 

 To transport with excitement; to enrapture.  Thomson.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

rapture, n.
1 a ecstatic delight, mental transport. b (in pl.) great pleasure or enthusiasm or the expression of it.
2 archaic the act of transporting a person from one place to another.

Idiom

go into (or be in) raptures be enthusiastic; talk enthusiastically.

Derivative

rapturous adj. rapturously adv. rapturousness n.

Etymology

obs. F rapture or med.L raptura (as RAPT)

THESAURUS

rapture

abandon, affection, affectionateness, amativeness, amorousness, beatification, beatitude, bewitchment, blessedness, bliss, blissfulness, cheer, cheerfulness, cloud nine, craze, delectation, delight, delirium, demonstrativeness, dharana, dhyana, ecstasis, ecstasy, ecstatics, elation, enchantment, euphoria, exaltation, exhilaration, exuberance, felicity, fire and fury, frenzy, furor, furore, fury, gaiety, gladness, glee, goatishness, happiness, heaven, high spirits, horniness, hypnosis, hysteria, intoxication, joy, joyance, joyfulness, joyousness, lovelornness, lovesickness, madness, orgasm, orgy, overhappiness, overjoyfulness, paradise, passion, pleasure, rage, ravishment, rhapsody, romanticism, samadhi, sentimentality, seventh, seventh heaven, sexiness, sunshine, susceptibility, tearing passion, thrill, towering rage, trance, transport, unalloyed happiness, yoga trance

ROGET THESAURUS

rapture

Pleasure

N pleasure, gratification, enjoyment, fruition, oblectation, delectation, delection, relish, zest, gusto, satisfaction, complacency, well-being, good, snugness, comfort, ease, cushion, sans souci, without worry, mind at ease, joy, gladness, delight, glee, cheer, sunshine, cheerfulness, treat, refreshment, amusement, luxury, mens sana in corpore sano, a sound mind in a sound body, happiness, felicity, bliss, beatitude, beautification, enchantment, transport, rapture, ravishment, ecstasy, summum bonum, paradise, elysium, third heaven, seventh heaven, cloud nine, unalloyed happiness, hedonics, hedonism, honeymoon, palmy days, halcyon days, golden age, golden time, Dixie, Dixie's land, Saturnia regna, Arcadia, Shangri-La, happy valley, Agapemone, pleased, not sorry, glad, gladsome, pleased as Punch, happy, blest, blessed, blissful, beatified, happy as a clam at high water, happy as a clam, happy as a king, happy as the day is long, thrice happy, ter quaterque beatus, enjoying, joyful, hedonic, in a blissful state, in paradise, in raptures, in ecstasies, in a transport of delight, comfortable, at ease, content, sans souci, overjoyed, entranced, enchanted, enraptures, enravished, transported, fascinated, captivated, with a joyful face, with sparkling eyes, pleasing, ecstatic, beatic, painless, unalloyed, without alloy, cloudless, happily, with pleasure, with glee, one's heart leaping with joy, a wilderness of sweets, I wish you all the joy that you can wish, jour de ma vie, joy ruled the day and love the night, joys season'd high and tasting strong of guilt, oh happiness, our being's end and aim!, there is a pleasure that is born of pain, throned on highest bliss, vedi Napoli e poi muori, zwischen Freud und Leid ist die Brucke nicht weit, the bridge between joy and sorrow is not wide.

Love

N love, fondness, liking, inclination, regard, dilection, admiration, fancy, affection, sympathy, fellow-feeling, tenderness, heart, brotherly love, benevolence, attachment, yearning, eros, tender passion, amour, gyneolatry, gallantry, passion, flame, devotion, fervor, enthusiasm, transport of love, rapture, enchantment, infatuation, adoration, idolatry, Cupid, Venus, myrtle, true lover's knot, love token, love suit, love affair, love tale, love story, the, old story, plighted love, courtship, amourette, free love, maternal love, storge, parental love, young love, puppy love, attractiveness, popularity, favorite, lover, suitor, follower, admirer, adorer, wooer, amoret, beau, sweetheart, inamorato, swain, young man, flame, love, truelove, leman, Lothario, gallant, paramour, amoroso, cavaliere servente, captive, cicisbeo, caro sposo, inamorata, ladylove, idol, darling, duck, Dulcinea, angel, goddess, cara sposa, betrothed, affianced, fiancee, flirt, coquette, amorette, pair of turtledoves, abode of love, agapemone, loving, fond of, taken with, struck with, smitten, bitten, attached to, wedded to, enamored, charmed, in love, love-sick, over head and ears in love, head over heels in love, affectionate, tender, sweet upon, sympathetic, loving, amorous, amatory, fond, erotic, uxorious, ardent, passionate, rapturous, devoted, motherly, loved, beloved well beloved, dearly beloved, dear, precious, darling, pet, little, favorite, popular, congenial, after one's mind, after one's taste, after one's fancy, after one's own heart, to one's mind, to one's taste, to one's fancy, to one's own heart, in one's good graces, dear as the apple of one's eye, nearest to one's heart, lovable, adorable, lovely, sweet, attractive, seductive, winning, charming, engaging, interesting, enchanting, captivating, fascinating, bewitching, amiable, like an angel, amantes amentes, credula res amor est, militat omnis amasius, love conquers all, omnia vincit amor, si vis amari ama, the sweetest joy, the wildest woe.