ravish

rav·ish

verb

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

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.

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"ravish." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 August 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/ravish>.

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ravish. (n.d.). Retrieved August 17th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/ravish

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 rape

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"ravish." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 August 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/ravish>.

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ravish. (n.d.). Retrieved August 17th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/ravish

ravish

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

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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MLA Style

"ravish." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 August 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/ravish>.

APA Style

ravish. (n.d.). Retrieved August 17th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/ravish

Verb

(third-person singular simple present ravishes, present participle ravishing, simple past and past participle ravished)

(usually passive) To transport with joy or delight; to delight to ecstasy.
(now rare) To rape.

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.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.

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MLA Style

"ravish." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 August 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/ravish>.

APA Style

ravish. (n.d.). Retrieved August 17th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/ravish

ravish - Legal Definition

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.

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MLA Style

"ravish." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 August 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/ravish>.

APA Style

ravish. (n.d.). Retrieved August 17th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/ravish

ravish

ravish

ravish

ravish - Legal Definition

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ravish

ravish

ravish

ravish - Legal Definition

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Words near ravish in the dictionary

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