ravish
rav·ish
verb
- When you kidnap a child by force, this is an example of ravish.
- When a girl is raped, this is an example of ravish.
- When a wonderful play fills someone with intense delight, this is an example of ravish.
To ravish is to take someone by force, to force someone to engage in sexual intercourse or to experience extreme happiness.
ravish
- to seize and carry away forcibly
- to rape (a woman)
- to transport with joy or delight; enrapture
Origin of ravish
Middle English ravishen from inflectional stem of Old French ravir, to carry away from Vulgar Latin an unverified form rapire, for Classical Latin rapere, to seize: see raperavish
transitive verb
rav·ished, rav·ish·ing, rav·ish·es- To force (another) to have sexual intercourse; rape.
- To overwhelm with emotion; enrapture: moviegoers who were ravished with delight.
- Archaic To seize and carry away by force.
Origin of ravish
Middle English ravishen from Old French ravir raviss- from Vulgar Latin rapīre from Latin rapere to seize ; see rep- in Indo-European roots.Related Forms:
- rav′ish·er
noun
- rav′ish·ment
noun
ravish
Verb
(third-person singular simple present ravishes, present participle ravishing, simple past and past participle ravished)
Origin
From Anglo-Norman, from Old French raviss-, present participle stem of ravir (“to seize, take away hastily"), from Late Latin *rapire, from Latin rapere.
ravish - Legal Definition
v
To take by force or seize is
the literal meaning of the word. It is generally synonymous with rape. Traditionally, an
indictment for rape demanded inclusion of the word ravished, which implied use
of force and or violence by the man and resistance by the female.
