▪ I. rapt, n. Now rare.
(ræpt)
[ad. L. raptus, n. of action f. rapĕre to seize. Cf. F. rapt.]
1. A trance, ecstasy, rapture.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 272 A rapt, or a rauysshynge of the soule. 1555 Eden Decades 182 He seemeth to lye as thoughe he were in great payne or in a rapte. 1669 Woodhead St. Teresa i. xxiv. 165 There came a Rapt upon me, so sudden, that it took me, as it were, out of myself. 1751 G. Lavington Enthus. Meth. & Papists iii. (1754) 72 Being much indisposed, I took up my Rosary, and insensibly fell into a Rapt. 1826 Southey Vind. Eccl. Angl. 138 In one of his rapts the Angels, who conducted his spirit..bade him look down upon the earth. |
† 2. Sc. = rape (abduction or ravishing). Obs.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 121 Adulterie and fornicatioun, Rapt and incest. c 1614 Sir W. Mure Dido & æneas i. 48 Fair Helen's rapt, and Paris' prowd offence. a 1693 Urquhart's Rabelais iii. xlviii. 387 A Vagabond Stranger..by an open Rapt snatcht away before their own eyes their..Daughters. |
† b. An abducted woman. Obs. rare—1.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. ii. 70 [Helen is] the inordinate patterne of all willing and licentious rapts. |
† 3. The act or power of carrying forcibly away; sweep; force, current. Obs.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. viii. 341 Neither may reason find place in the violent rapt of such passions. 1645 Rutherford Tryal & Tri. Faith iv. (1845) 149 Nor are we to think that God doth all with an immediate rapt. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. i. §24 Move by the Intelligences of the superiour Faculties, not by the Rapt of Passion. |
† 4. Violent robbery, rapine. Obs. rare—1.
| 1641 Sc. Acts Chas. I (1814) V. 425 [He] brought away from thame ane kow whairof he never made restitutione as yet, quhilk is manifest rapt and oppressioune. |
▪ II. rapt, pa. pple. (and pa. tense)
(ræpt)
Also 5–6 rapte, 7 rap't.
[ad. L. rapt-us, pa. pple. of rapĕre to seize, rape v.2
Chiefly employed as a pa. pple. passive (rarely active), but also occas. in poetry (from c 1600) as a pa. tense. The use of rap v.3 to supply an inf. and pres. was formerly common (cf. also rapt v.), but is now extremely rare.]
I. As pa. pple. passive. (The ordinary use.)
1. (Also with up.) Taken and carried up to or into heaven (either in literal or mystical sense).
| a 1400 Vernon MS. in O.E. Misc. 223 Þe visions of seynt poul wan he was rapt into paradys. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xiv, In this wyse were the bretheren twayne To heauen rapt, as thes poetes fayne. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) III. 25 Helyas was rapte in this tyme. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 25 Whan he was rapt & taken vp in to the thyrde heuen. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry iii. ii. (1660) 99 To this place..were Enoch, Elias and Paul rapt up before their deaths. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 522 Rapt in a Chariot drawn by fiery Steeds. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 71 They are..rapt, perhaps, like Elijah, alive into Heaven. 1866 Kingsley Herew. I. Prel. 12 He was rapt up on high and saw S. Peter. |
2. a. Carried away in spirit, without bodily removal.
| c 1470 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 15 How a certeyn deuowt person..was rapte in spirite by the wille of god. 1550 Bale Image Both Ch. i. C iiij, I..was in the spirite rapte, and clerely taken vp from all wordlye affectes. 1669 Woodhead St. Teresa i. xxxvi. (1671) 272 Being in Prayer.., and rapt in Spirit. 1712 Pope Messiah 7 Rapt into future times, the Bard begun. 1878 S. Cox Salv. Mundi ix. (ed. 3) 198 St. Paul when he was rapt in the spirit into Paradise. |
b. With various const., as beside, beyond, out of (oneself), into (a certain state).
| 1549 Chaloner Erasm. on Folly T. iij, They are wholy distraught and rapte out of theimselves. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 289 Doe I seeme..to be frentique, and rapt beside my selfe. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. iii. iii. (1651) 476 Anthony was amazed and rapt beyond himself. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1692) 160 How would he have been rapt into an Extasie of Astonishment. 1795–1814 Wordsw. Excurs. i. 215 Rapt into still communion. 1879 Hesba Stretton Through a Needle's Eye I. 182 He had been rapt away into a trance of spiritual ecstasy. |
3. Transported with some emotion, ravished, enraptured. Also const. with, by, or away.
| 1539 Taverner Gard. Wysed. ii. 3 With this noble corage, with this ardent zele..he is thus rapte. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. ix. 6 With the sweetnesse of her rare delight The prince halfe rapt began on her to dote. 1680 Crowne Misery Civ. War iv. 50, I am so rapt I mind not what she says. 1713 Addison Cato iv. iii, I..Am rapt with joy to see my Marcia's tears. 1795–1814 Wordsw. Excurs. iv. 187 From such disorder free, Nor rapt, nor craving, but in settled peace. 1814 Scott Wav. xxvi, I am not, like him, rapt by the bustle of military preparation. 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea vi. §313, I have stood on the deck under those beautiful skies gazing, admiring, rapt. 1924 A. D. Sedgwick Little French Girl ii. xii. 194 The heir..stood with his little shoulders screwed up, his elbows in his hands, rapt away from shyness and self-consciousness by his sincere delight. |
4. Deeply engaged or buried in (a feeling, subject of thought, etc.); intent upon.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxix. (Percy Soc.) 137 For a woman rapt in love so marveylously. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 222 As men rapt in deep contemplation. 1682 H. More Belshazzar i. 66 Rapt in prophetic vision, I behold Things hid as yet from mortal sight. 1769 Gray Installat. Ode 18 Rapt in celestial transport they. 1846 Tennyson Golden Year 69 As if the seedsman, rapt Upon the coming harvest, should not plunge His hand into the bag. 1847 ― Princ. vi. 203 Ida spoke not, rapt upon the child. 1882 Farrar Early Chr. I. 416 Rapt in adoring contemplation. |
5. Of a woman: Carried away by force; raped.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 197 Sekenge Europa his sustyr,..whiche was rapte by Iupiter. c 1550 Life Bp. Fisher in Wks. (E.E.T.S.) ii. p. xliv, Provided alwaies that you..Catherine were not rapt against your will. 1594 Drayton Idea 497 By Proserpine's sad Teares, When she was rapt to the infernall Bower. a 1634 Randolph Poems (1638) 11 Euridice..From Orpheus rapt. |
6. a. Carried or removed from one place, position, or situation to another. (Chiefly said of persons.) With various const.
| 1552 Latimer Godly Serm. (1562) 113 b, They..shal be rapte vp into the ayre. 1615 Sandys Trav. 206 The house of the blessed Virgin..was rapt from thence, and set in the woods of Picenum. a 1639 Wotton in Reliq. (1651) 506 From Oxford I was Rapt by my Nephew..to Redgrave. 1715–20 Pope Iliad v. 113 Rapt through the ranks he thunders o'er the plain. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 212 The aspiring family was rapt out of sight in a whirlwind. 1870 Myers Poems 82 That face,..Lo, while we looked on her, was rapt away. |
b. Taken away by death.
| 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. (1859) 121 His only daughter had been rapt away to the grave. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. x. viii. (1872) III. 297 Looking back..upon such a Father now rapt away for ever. |
† c. Snapped up (by purchasers). Obs. rare—1.
| 1567 Drant Horace, Epistles To Rdr. *v, Flim flames and gue gawes..are soner rapte vp thenne..Clarkly makinges. |
II. 7. As pa. pple. active. rare.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xvi. (Percy Soc.) 59 The mynde inwarde Venus had rapte and taken fervently. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone Ded., This it is, that hath..rap't me to present indignation. 1671 Milton P.R. ii. 39 What accident Hath rapt him from us? |
III. 8. As pa. tense. Chiefly poetic, and now rare.
| 1594 2nd Rep. Faustus (1828) 76 He..rapt him up by his long hair out of the water unto the land. 1621 H. King Serm. 54 Else some whirle-wind rapt him, and bare him to the house. 1651 R. Waring Verses prefixed Cartwright's Comedies, He rapt us, too: 't was Heaven but to heare. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xi, A pleasing melancholy, that rapt all her attention. 1821 Shelley Adonais xxiii, Sorrow and fear So struck, so roused, so rapt Urania. 1876 Swinburne Erechtheus 617 As the wild God rapt her from earth's breast lifted. |
▪ III. rapt, ppl. a.
(ræpt)
[See prec.]
1. Entranced, ravished, enraptured, etc.
| 1555 Eden Decades 182 The spirite answereth by the mouth of the rapte Piaces. 1632 Milton Penseroso 40 Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes. 1732 Pope Ess. Man i. 278 The rapt Seraph that adores and burns. 1841 Emerson Addr. Meth. Nature Wks. (Bohn) II. 221 The rapte saint is found the only logician. |
2. Indicating, proceeding from, characterized by, a state of rapture. (Freq. in later 19th c. use.)
| 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, He listened..with a rapt attention. 1851 J. P. Nichol Archit. Heav. (ed. 9) 300 The rapt language of the Psalmist. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. iv. 167 It is not the poetry of deep meditation or of rapt enthusiasm. |
† 3. Due to being carried along. Obs. rare—1.
| 1603 Sir C. Heydon Jud. Astrol. xxi. 432 The Moone by her diurne rapt motion from East to West. |
▪ IV. † rapt, v. Obs.
[f. rapt pa. pple.; cf. rap v.3, rape v.2]
1. trans. To carry away by force.
| 1577 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 86 The women of Saba..were rapted and rauished by the Romaines. 1601 Daniel Civ. Wars vii. xcvii, The Libyan lion,..Out-rushing from his den, rapts all away. 1619 Sir A. Gorges tr. Bacon's De Sap. Vet. 159 This spirit is fained to be rapted by the Earth. Ibid., The ayre is rapted by the water. |
2. To transport, enrapture.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. i. Trophies 441 The Prophet rapting his soule's soule a space. a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. xii. §2 (1622) 337 It euen rapteth the soule, and abstracteth it from it selfe. |
Hence † ˈrapted ppl. a., † ˈrapting vbl. n.
| 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. i. v. (1589) 16 Hercules..in rescue of the rapted Bride did runne. 1592 tr. Junius on Rev. xxi. 9 His rapting up by the Spirit. a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. xii. §2 (1622) 337 Tuning rarely right, Vnto the rapting Spirit, the rapted spright. |