![]() ![]() In Middle English, and occasionally after, the verb was used in figurative senses of Latin rapere, such as "transport in ecstasy, carry off to heaven," usually in past-participle rapte, which tends to blend with rapt. Uncertain connection to Low German and Dutch rapen in the same sense. Meaning "to rob, strip, plunder" (a place) is from 1721, a partial revival of the old sense. in English, but it might have been at least part of the sense in earlier uses. The surviving meaning "to abduct (a woman), ravish " also "seduce (a man)" is clearly by early 15c. The older senses of the English word became obsolete. Also figuring in alliterative or rhyming phrases, such as rape and renne (late 14c.) "seize and plunder." Late 14c., rapen, "seize prey abduct, take and carry off by force," from rape (n.) and from Anglo-French raper (Old French rapir) "to seize, abduct," a legal term, probably from Latin rapere "seize, carry off by force, abduct" (see rapid). ![]()
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