Past participle of rap2 (sense 1).
adj.- Deeply moved or delighted; enraptured: listened to the speaker with rapt admiration.
- Deeply absorbed; engrossed: was rapt in thought all evening.
[Middle English, carried away, from Latin raptus, past participle of rapere, to seize.]
raptly rapt·ly adv.WORD HISTORY One might be surprised to learn that rapt, a word used in describing states of deep delight or absorption, has a relative with an entirely different emotive force—rape. Now most often used to mean “to force someone to submit to sexual acts,” rape once had a much broader application, as it meant “to seize, carry off.” In fact, it was often used in positive and nonviolent contexts. From the Middle English period, we have examples of its being used to mean “to carry off to heaven from earth,” as in “the visions of seynt poul wan [when] he was rapt in to paradys.” As this quotation shows, rapt started out as the past participle of rape. As time went on, rapt became restricted to mental or emotional states, while rape developed a new past participle, raped, and became limited to criminal or violent acts.
