rapture English · revision 903

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈɹæpt͡ʃəː/ ''(UK)''; /ˈɹæpt͡ʃɚ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|rapture|t=abduction, carrying off]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) or formed in English from [[rapt]] and ''-ure'',^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) from [[la-med|raptura]] and Latin ''raptus'' “a carrying off”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) from ''rapere'' “to seize”.^(Barnhart 1995) It is a close relative of [[rape]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The act of carrying off as prey or plunder, or of carrying off a woman (about 1600).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The connecting idea between the senses is a sudden or violent taking and carrying away.^(Etymonline) The earliest uses had women as objects, and in the 17th century the word sometimes meant rape.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The sense “transport of mind, ecstasy” appeared in the early 17th century (1629),^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) and “an expression of ecstatic feeling” from the 1610s, as in the phrase ''to go into raptures''.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) ''The Rapture'', the belief that faithful Christians will be taken up into heaven at the end of time, dates from about 1852, after an interpretation by John Nelson Darby.^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1594 – Merriam-Webster's date.^(MW Collegiate)

+ * c. 1600 – a carrying off; abduction.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1629 – spiritual ecstasy.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1637 – verb, to enrapture.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1678 – ''rapturous''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1852 – ''the Rapture''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A state of intense joy or delight; [[ecstasy]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An expression of ecstatic feeling, often in the plural, as in ''went into raptures''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The carrying of a person from one place to another, especially to heaven.^(AHD)^(RHWU)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(often capitalized)'' In some Christian belief, the taking up of the faithful into heaven at the [[Second Coming]].^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[enrapture]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[rapturous]]

+ * [[rapturously]]

+ * [[enrapture]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rapt]]

+ * [[rape]]

+ * [[ravish]]

+ * [[raptor]]

+ * [[ecstasy]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}