n. 1. The state of being transported by a lofty emotion; ecstasy. 2. often raptures An expression of ecstatic feeling: raptures of joy. 3. a. The transporting of a person from one place to another, especially to heaven, by supernatural means. b. Rapture An event in the eschatology of certain Christian groups in which believers in Christ will be taken up to heaven either prior to or at the Second Coming. tr.v. rap·tured, rap·tur·ing, rap·tures To enrapture. [Obsolete French, abduction, carrying off, from rapt, carried away, from Old French rat, from Latin raptus; see RAPT.] |
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