Ravishment

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Ravishment \Rav"ish*ment\ (-ment), n. [F. ravissement. See
     {Ravish}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The act of carrying away by force or against consent;
        abduction; as, the ravishment of children from their
        parents, of a ward from his guardian, or of a wife from


        her husband. --Blackstone.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The state of being ravished; rapture; transport of
        delight; ecstasy. --Spenser.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment
              Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze. --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The act of ravishing a woman; rape.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  ravishment
       n 1: a feeling of delight at being filled with wonder and
            enchantment [syn: {entrancement}]
       2: the crime of forcing a woman to submit to sexual intercourse
          against her will [syn: {rape}, {violation}, {assault}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  101 Moby Thesaurus words for "ravishment":
     abandon, abuse, banditry, beatification, beatitude, betrayal,
     bewitchment, blessedness, bliss, blissfulness, brigandage,
     brigandism, cheer, cheerfulness, cloud nine, craze,
     criminal assault, debauchment, defilement, defloration,
     deflowering, deflowerment, delectation, delight, delirium,
     depredation, despoiling, despoilment, despoliation, devirgination,
     direption, ecstasy, ecstatics, elation, enchantment, exaltation,
     exhilaration, exuberance, felicity, fire and fury, foraging, foray,
     freebooting, frenzy, furor, furore, fury, gaiety, gladness, glee,
     happiness, heaven, high spirits, hysteria, intoxication, joy,
     joyance, joyfulness, looting, madness, marauding, orgasm, orgy,
     overhappiness, overjoyfulness, paradise, passion, pillage,
     pillaging, plunder, plundering, priapism, rage, raid, raiding,
     ransacking, rape, rapine, rapture, ravage, ravagement, ravaging,
     razzia, reiving, rifling, sack, sacking, seducement, seduction,
     seventh heaven, sexual assault, sexual possession, spoiling,
     spoliation, sunshine, taking, tearing passion, towering rage,
     transport, unalloyed happiness, violation
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  RAVISHMENT, crim. law. This word has several meanings. 1. It is an unlawful 
  taking of a woman, or an heir in ward. 2. It is sometimes used synonymously 
  with rape.