Borrowed from Latin raptus, past participle of rapio ("to seize").

• IPA: /ˈɹæpt/

rapt

1. (uncomparable, archaic) Snatched, taken away; abducted.
   • [1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC ↗; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volume (please specify the book number), London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC ↗:

     And through the Greeks and Ilians they rapt / The whirring chariot.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1626, Henry Wotton, letter to Nicholas Pey:

     From Oxford I was rapt by my nephew, Sir Edmund Francis Bacon, to Redgrove.

2. (uncomparable) Lifted up into the air; transported into heaven.
3. (comparable) Very interested, involved in something, absorbed, transfixed; fascinated or engrossed.

   The children watched in rapt attention as the magician produced object after object from his hat.

   • 1851-2, George W. M. Reynolds, The Necromancer, in Reynolds′s Miscellany, republished 1857; 2008, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=DO1PXInE7SoC&pg=PA247&dq=%22more|most+rapt%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XJX6T6bVH6-XiAeDodTaBg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22more|most%20rapt%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 247],

     It was an enthusiasm of the most rapt and holy kind.

   • 1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, →OCLC ↗:

     The Rat never answered, if indeed he heard. Rapt, transported, trembling, he was possessed in all his senses by this new divine thing that caught up his helpless soul and swung and dandled it, a powerless but happy infant in a strong sustaining grasp.

4. (comparable) Enthusiatic; ecstatic, elated, happy.

   He was rapt with his exam results.

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC ↗, Act I, scene iv, page 1 ↗:

     I […] am rapt with joy to see my Marcia's tears.

   • 2010, Michael Reichert, Richard Hawley, Reaching Boys, Teaching Boys: Strategies that Work—and Why, John Wiley & Sons, US, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=MXI9mYLmWcQC&pg=PA119&dq=%22more|most+rapt%22+australia+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OeD6T9LoFsaZiQf_wYT-Bg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22more|most%20rapt%22%20australia%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 121],

     Even in the most rapt accounts of independent student work, there appears an appreciative acknowledgment of the teacher′s having determined just the right amount of room necessary to build autonomy without risking frustration and failure.

   • 2012, Greig Caigou, Wild Horizons: More Great Hunting Adventures, HarperCollins (New Zealand), [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=TlDvzh-FtEEC&pg=PT251&dq=%22more|most+rapt%22+australia+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OeD6T9LoFsaZiQf_wYT-Bg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false unnumbered page],

     These are worthy aspects of the hunt to give some consideration to with the next generation, because market forces want us to get more rapt with ever more sophisticated gear and an algorithmic conquering of animal instinct.

• See also Thesaurus:rapt

• rapture

• French: captivé, absorbé, fasciné
• German: hingerissen, gebannt, fasziniert
• Russian: поглощённый
• Spanish: absorto, embelesado

• French: ravi
• German: begeistert, hingerissen, überschwänglich, enthusiastisch

rapt (rapts, present participle rapting; simple past and past participle rapted)

1. (obsolete) To transport or ravish.
2. (obsolete) To carry away by force.
   • 1819-20, Washington Irving, The Spectre Bridegroom, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., reprinted in 1840, The Works of Washington Irving, Volume 1, [https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Vqs-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA256&dq=%22His+only+daughter+had+either+been+rapt+away+to+the+grave,+or+he+was+to+have+some+wood-demon+for+a+son-in-law,+and,+perchance,+a+troop+of+goblin+grandchildren.%22&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22His%20only%20daughter%20had%20either%20been%20rapt%20away%20to%20the%20grave%2C%20or%20he%20was%20to%20have%20some%20wood-demon%20for%20a%20son-in-law%2C%20and%2C%20perchance%2C%20a%20troop%20of%20goblin%20grandchildren.%22&f=false page 256],

     His only daughter had either been rapt away to the grave, or he was to have some wood-demon for a son-in-law, and, perchance, a troop of goblin grandchildren.

   • 1595, Samuel Daniel, “(please specify the folio number)”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: […] P[eter] Short for Simon Waterson, →OCLC ↗:

     Out-rushing from his denne rapts all away

rapt (plural rapts)

1. (obsolete) An ecstasy; a trance.
2. (obsolete) Rapidity.