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.
“Sometimes things would come in that wonderful raptus of inspiration — if that’s not too grandiose a phrase — and I’d get up and realize it had been hours and I was drenched in sweat.”
From New York Times
He said, "Did I say this?—Well then I have had my raptus."
From Project Gutenberg
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 Project Gutenberg
I may not disturb him—he is in his raptus,' she would exclaim despairingly, in allusion to his habit of relapsing into gloomy reverie.
From Project Gutenberg
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 Project Gutenberg
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.
