Definition of "rapture" in English

noun

1. Extreme pleasure, happiness or excitement.

   • They went into raptures about the meal they'd had.

2. (Christianity with the) Alternative letter-case form of Rapture.

3. (obsolete) The act of kidnapping or abducting, especially the forceful carrying off of a woman.

4. (obsolete) Rape; ravishment; sexual violation.

5. (obsolete) The act of carrying, conveying, transporting or sweeping along by force of movement; the force of such movement; the fact of being carried along by such movement.

6. A spasm; a fit; a syncope; delirium.

verb

1. (dated, transitive) To cause to experience great happiness or excitement.

2. (dated, intransitive) To experience great happiness or excitement.

3. (transitive) To take (someone) off the Earth and bring (them) to Heaven as part of the Rapture.

4. (rare, intransitive) To take part in the Rapture; to leave Earth and go to Heaven as part of the Rapture.

5. (uncommon) To state (something, transitive) or talk (intransitive) rapturously.