▪ I. ravishing, vbl. n.
(ˈrævɪʃɪŋ)
[-ing1.]
1. The action of taking or carrying away by force; plundering; violation, etc.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7080 And al þe chesun o þat strijf, Was for rauising of a wijf. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xxii. (Bodl. MS.), Aboute þis lyne..þe firmament passeþ aboute wiþ eendeles rauessching. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 36 But be wel ware of feyned cosynage,..And lords lettres, and ravisshyng, and rage. 1535 Coverdale Nahum iii. 1 Wo to that bloudthursty cite, which is all full of lyes and robbery, & wil not leaue of from rauyszshinge. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Rapt, ou ravissement, rauishing or taking away by violence. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 272 The deflouring of our daughters, the rauishing of our wiues. |
2. The action of transporting with ecstasy or delight. ? Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif Acts xxii. 17 Forsoth it is don to me, turnynge aȝen into Jerusalem,..me for to be maad in rauyssching of soule. 1435 Misyn Fire of Love 86 Anoþer maner of rauischynge þer is þat is lyfting of mynde in-to god be contemplacion. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 112 Yn the space of hys raueshyng, he was so fully helyd that he hym selfe meruelyd. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 161 b, In suche hye eleuacyon or rauysshyng vp of the mynde. 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. (1594) 294 This degree of loue may be rightly called rauishing, in which the louer is so rapt out of himselfe, that he forgetteth himselfe. 1622 Wither in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848) 216 He in his troubles eased the bodie's paines By measures raised to the soule's rauishing. |
† b. An ecstasy, transport, rapture. Obs.
| 1435 Misyn Fire of Love 84 Of dobylle rauischyngis. Ibid. 86 And [als] well þis is cald a rauischynge als þe todyr. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 272 The thyrde..is called a rapt or a rauysshynge of the soule. 1627–77 Feltham Resolves ii. lxvi. 328 The ravishings that sometimes from aboue do shoot abroad in the inward man. |
▪ II. ravishing, ppl. a.
(ˈrævɪʃɪŋ)
[-ing2.]
That ravishes, in senses of the vb.
† 1. That carries along or away. Obs. rare.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. met. v. 13 (Camb. MS.) O Thou maker of the whel þat bereþ þe sterres which..tornest the heuene with a Rauessyng sweyh. Ibid. 14 Thow gouernour withdrawh and restryne thei rauesynge floodys. |
† 2. Seizing upon prey; ravenous. Obs.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxi. 12 Þai oppynd on me þaire mouth as lyon rawysand and rumyand. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxii. 147 Diuerse maners of nedders and oþer rauyschand bestez. 1535 Coverdale Gen. xxxvii. 33 A rauyshinge beast hath rauyshed Ioseph. 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. i. 55 With his stealthy pace, With Tarquin's rauishing sides [emend. strides]. |
3. Exciting ecstasy or transports.
| c 1430 Lydg. Reas. & Sens. (E.E.T.S.) 3656 Whan they harpe pley, and synge, The noyse is so ravysshynge, That [etc.]. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. 3 O rauishing perswasion, to deale with a Science, whose Subiect is so Auncient. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 783 Those ravishing and charming Graces. a 1703 Burkitt On N.T., Matt. xvii. 4 O what a ravishing comfort is the fellowship of the saints. 1840 Browning Sordello iii. 351 Then, ravishingest lady, will you pass Or not each formidable group? 1873 Hamerton Intell. Life i. iv. (1875) 24 His ears drank ravishing harmonies. |
† b. as adv. Ravishingly. Obs. rare.
| 1616 Breton Goode & Badde §8 The rauishing sweet in the musique of Honour. 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. I. 57 Devotions..like a melodious Consort ravishing Sweet. |
Add: 4. In trivial use: very attractive, delightful.
| 1926 A. Huxley Let. 10 Aug. (1969) 271, I had a very pleasant evening..with Anita Loos, who is ravishing. 1927 H. T. Lowe-Porter tr. Mann's Magic Mountain I. v. 346 Frau Stöhr had read it early, and pronounced it simply ravishing. 1958 P. Gibbs Curtains of Yesterday xiv. 130 ‘How do you think I look, Father?’ she cried gaily. ‘Ravishing!’ he said, good-humouredly. ‘And very expensive!’ 1978 [see poached ppl. a.1 c]. 1989 C. Harkness Time of Grace (1990) v. 79 Although one could hardly have called her suntanned, she was very slightly golden... She looked ravishing. |