raptus
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of raptus
1840–50; < Latin: a seizing, equivalent to rap ( ere ) to seize, abduct, rape 1 + -tus suffix of v. action
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Breuning; tell her I am still subject to the "raptus."
From Life of Beethoven by Anton Schindler
They do but repeat the promise and obscurity of Nature, for she herself has the same largeness, is such another raptus, proceeding to no end, but to a circle or complexity of ends.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 76, February, 1864 by Various
It is, however, possible that the raptus was a more serious affair; and Professor Skeat has pointed out the coincidence that Chaucer’s “little son Lowis” was just ten years old in 1391.
From Chaucer and His England by G. G. Coulton
"What king do you place above all other kings, Magister?" asked Petrea for the second time,--having this evening her "raptus" of questioning.
From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 6 by Hamilton Wright Mabie
In the condition called raptus or ravishment by theologians, breathing and circulation are so depressed that it is a question among the doctors whether the soul be or be not temporarily dissevered from the body.
From Varieties of Religious Experience, a Study in Human Nature by William James
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
