ravish

To ravish is to take someone by force, to force someone to engage in sexual intercourse or to experience extreme happiness.

(verb)

  1. When you kidnap a child by force, this is an example of ravish.
  2. When a girl is raped, this is an example of ravish.
  3. When a wonderful play fills someone with intense delight, this is an example of ravish.

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See ravish in Webster's New World College Dictionary

transitive verb

  1. to seize and carry away forcibly
  2. to rape (a woman)
  3. to transport with joy or delight; enrapture

Origin: ME ravishen < inflectional stem of OFr ravir, to carry away < VL *rapire, for L rapere, to seize: see rape

Related Forms:

See ravish in American Heritage Dictionary 4

transitive verb rav·ished, rav·ish·ing, rav·ish·es
  1. To seize and carry away by force.
  2. To force (another) to have sexual intercourse; rape.
  3. To overwhelm with emotion; enrapture. See Synonyms at enrapture.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English ravisshen

Origin: , from Old French ravir, raviss-

Origin: , from Vulgar Latin *rapīre

Origin: , from Latin rapere, to seize; see rep- in Indo-European roots

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Related Forms:

  • ravˈish·er noun

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