ravishmentn.
/ˈravᵻʃm(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˈrævᵻʃm(ə)nt/ 1.
a. Forcible abduction of a woman, esp. with the intention of rape; rape itself. Also in extended use. Now chiefly literary.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > kidnapping or abduction > [noun] > specifically a woman
ravishment1436
rapture1595
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > loss of chastity > [noun] > defilement of chastity or woman > forcible
forcinga1382
oppressionc1395
rapec1425
ravishment1436
rapt1449
violation?1506
violating1523
stuprationa1525
abuse1585
raping?1585
constupration1611
rapture?1615
gang-banging1949
1436 Rolls of Parl. IV. 498/1 William Pulle..to yentent to exclude hir of hir suyte and lawefull remedie of ye said Ravyshement, hir emprisoned.
1484 King Richard III in N. H. Nicolas Privy Purse Expenses Elizabeth of York (1830) p. xli I shall..not suffre any manner hurt by any maner persone or persones to them or any of theim or their bodies and persones, to be done by way of ravissement or defouling contrarie their willes.
?1529 S. Fish Supplicacyon for Beggers sig. A5 For the murdre of his auncestre rauisshement of his wyfe, of his doughter.
1553 T. Paynell tr. Dares Faythfull & True Storye Destr. Troye f. 16 v They signified throughe out all Grece their interprince, to the intent that euerye man shoulde be readie in armes at the assemble in the porte of Athens, to defende their ryght and honoure, and to reuenge the rauishement of Helen.
?c1615 Chron. Kings of Scotl. (1830) 112 Scho heastis to compleit the mareage..to help the wrang of the reawiesment.
1647 N. Bacon Hist. Disc. Govt. 115 For though he might have taken it by ravishment, yet he chose the way of wooing by a kind of mutuall agreement.
a1671 T. Fairfax Short Mem. (1699) 125 Even this I hope all impartial judges will interpret as force and ravishment of a good name, rather than a voluntary consent.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 533. ⁋2 Why should there be Accessaries in Ravishment any more than Murther?
1747 T. Deacon Full, True & Comprehensive View Christianity ii. ii. cxliv. 409 The same is the case of vertuous women who suffer real ravishment.
1794 T. Taylor tr. Pausanias Descr. Greece I. 39 She was there informed, by Chrysanthis, of the ravishment of her daughter.
1802 E. Forster tr. Arabian Nights V. 281 He begged the princess to acquaint him of what had passed, from the time of her ravishment.
1896 C. G. D. Roberts Forge in Forest x. 125 Seeing the Black Abbé's hand in the ravishment of these tender victims, I made no doubt to cross him yet again, and my heart rose exultantly to the enterprise.
1960 J. Barth Sot-weed Factor iii. xi. 648 'Tis my guess he sought her out..and did such deeds o' salvage love and ravishment that she gave o'er the reins of her mind for good and all.
1991 Times 1 July 16/7 The round houses could have been the dwellings of the client king Prasutagus and his wife Boudicca, and thus possibly the locus of the ravishment of the queen and her daughters.
b. As a count noun: an instance of this; = rape n.3 2b. Also figurative. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > kidnapping or abduction > [noun] > specifically a woman > instance of
ravishment1473
ravish1636
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > loss of chastity > [noun] > defilement of chastity or woman > forcible > instance of
ravishment1473
rapec1529
ravish1920
gang-banging1949
1473 Rolls of Parl. VI. 138/2 Piteously..compleyneth..your..poore Subgiettes..of..Murthers, Robberyes..Ravysshements of women..committed and doon by Henry Bodrugan.
1549 W. Thomas Hist. Italie f. 22 What noumbres of warres the Romaynes haue mainteygned, with infinite bloudsheddyng, destructions of whole countreys, rauishmentes of chast women, sacke, spoyle, tributes, oppression of common welthes, and a thousande other tyrannies.
1576 Act 18 Eliz. c. 7 §1 Felonious Rapes or Ravishements of Women Maydes Wieves and Damsells.
1631 W. Saltonstall Picturæ Loquentes sig. F3 In the fictions of Duells & ravishments, who comes in still to rescue, but a Keeper?
1686 London Gaz. No. 2120/2 All Ravishments and wilful taking away or Marrying of any Maid.
1693 G. Firmin Πανουργια i. 9 Our coming to Christ, and union with him, is compared to Marriage,..but Dr. Crisp makes it a Ravishment.
1720 D. Defoe Mem. Cavalier 199 Murthers, Ravishments, and Barbarities.
1778 G. Colman Bonduca iii. 23 Thou feared god, if ever to thy justice Insulting wrongs, and ravishments of women, With virgin incense, have access, now hear me!
1890 W. Booth In Darkest Eng. i. i. 13 Ravishments as horrible, as if we were in Central Africa.
1988 S. S. Tepper Gate to Women's Country (1989) xxvii. 237 A frenzied and almost forcible ravishment, which..left her..completely unfulfilled.
2.
a. Rapture, ecstasy, delight; the action of entrancing a person; the fact of being entranced or captivated.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > joy, gladness, or delight > rapture or ecstasy > [noun]
ravishment1477
exaltationa1513
ecstasy1526
enragement1596
rapture1598
trance1598
transportation1617
raptery1640
enravishment1656
transport1658
rapturousnessa1687
sublimation1816
raptus1845
1477 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Hist. Jason (1913) 67 b In this rauisshement, him thought that the God mars saide to him, Appollo, Appollo.
1546 Primer Hen. VIII 146 In the mouth honie so mellifluous, In the heart ravishment celestious.
1579 S. Brinkley tr. G. Loarte Exercise Christian Life xxviii. f.158 He perpetually reuolued in his mind the things which he sawe in his extasie or rauishment.
1589 A. Munday tr. F. de Vernassal Hist. Palmendos xxvii. f. 81v She immediatly interpreted this Saturnine taciturnitie to her own aduantage, thinking it proceeded from the rauishment of her beautie.
1627 W. Sclater Briefe Expos. 2 Thess. (1629) 89 Cursed Moamed calls the dead fits of his falling Sicknesse, his Exstasie and rauishment at the appearance of the Angell Gabriel.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost v. 46 Whom to behold but thee, Natures desire, In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze. View more context for this quotation
1718 Entertainer No. 21. 144 That Heavenly Bliss, which has absorb'd their Souls in Ravishment and Rapture.
1748 T. Smollett Roderick Random II. lvii. 229 Your beauty fills me with wonder! your understanding with ravishment, and your goodness with adoration!
1794 J. Grahame Poems 35 Rowing down the silver tide he charms With sweetest ravishment the listening woods.
1814 H. F. Cary tr. Dante Vision III. xiv. 115 A melody That, indistinctly heard, with ravishment Possess'd me.
1873 R. Browning Red Cotton Night-cap Country iv. 270 What folks nickname A lyre, those ancients played to ravishment.
1903 H. James Ambassadors viii. xix. 262 If Mme. de Vionnet..compassed the ravishment of the Pococks—Mme. de Vionnet would be prodigious.
1978 Newsweek (Nexis) 18 Sept. 97 It's dangerous to saturate one's vision with such total ravishment, to find beauty in everything.
1990 Representations No. 31. 129 The impact of Darwin's visual ravishment, of the eye entangled in an unfamiliar and overwhelming landscape.
b. As a count noun: an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > joy, gladness, or delight > rapture or ecstasy > [noun] > instance of
rapt?a1425
trance1434
ravishing1435
ravishment1581
rapture1594
ravish1636
enravishment1661
Ananda1875
blissout1974
1581 J. Marbeck Bk. Notes & Common Places 655 Some of them haue visions, rauishments, & traunces.
1598 F. Meres tr. Luis de Granada Sinners Guyde i. ii. 215 The seruants of God, are often more sensibly merry & delighted (for so it pleaseth me to speake) in celestial rauishments, in silence, in reading, in prayer, in meditation, and in such like exercises.
1631 R. Bolton Instr. Right Comf. Affl. Consciences 76 The constant profession, and power of our most true, and ever-blessed Religion did create..such ioyfull springings, and spirituall ravishments in their hearts.
1665 S. Patrick Parable of Pilgrim xxiv. 255 To make joy in Heaven,..O what a ravishment is it?
1716 T. Allen Pract. Holy Life 310 What Ravishments of Delight will it cause in them, to be loved of God.
1744 J. Paterson Compl. Comm. Paradise Lost 266 Ravishments, exstacies, or transports of the mind for joy.
1792 T. Odiorne Progress of Refinement ii. 59 Lovers oft languish to its dying strains, Or even in its ravishments expire.
1841 R. W. Emerson Ess. 1st Ser. (Boston ed.) ix. 233 What was in the case of these remarkable persons [sc. Fox, Swedenborg, etc.] a ravishment.
1887 H. James Let. 27 Feb. (1980) III. 169 It is Venice, none the less, and it is a ravishment to be here.
1907 I. W. Riley Amer. Philos. 8 Edwards' mystic experiences, his youthful trances and apparent ravishments of soul out of body.
1993 Times 14 Jan. 36/6 Who will understand..Malibran without her ravishments and Garlandesque death-wish?
3. Law. The action or an act of forcibly abducting a ward, esp. for marriage without the guardian's consent. Also: a writ issued in consequence of this. Chiefly in ravishment of ward. Now historical. [In ravishment of ward after Anglo-Norman ravishment de garde, ravissement de garde (late 13th cent. or earlier; also in bref de ravissement de garde writ of ravishment of ward). Compare earlier borrowing of the Anglo-Norman phrase:]
1455 J. Fastolf in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 118 A wryt of ravyshment de garde ys taken, and..Wentworth ys councell calle sore vppon the accion of ijc marc yn the Comyn Place.
a1641 J. Smyth Berkeley MSS (1883) II. 351 This lord Henry brought his Writ of ravishment de gard against Robert Hill.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > specific offences > [noun] > unlawful violence > carrying off person by force
ravishment1530
society > law > administration of justice > process, writ, warrant, or order > [noun] > writ > writ in consequence of carrying off of ward
ravishment of ward1642
1530–1 Act 22 Hen. VIII c. 15 And also excepted and for~prised out of this pardon all rauysshementes of the Kynges wardes.
1593 R. Cosin Apol. for Sundrie Proc. (rev. ed.) iii. vii. 88 It may not be thought, that euery intrusion, deteiner, or concealement (which is incroching vpon the Kings right) or rauishment of his wardes, which hee ought to haue by his Prerogatiue Royall; is straightway, and necessarilie a Praemunire.
1642 tr. J. Perkins Profitable Bk. i. §30. 13 If Lord and Tenant be by Knights service, and the Tenant die, his heire within age and a stranger take him away; the Lord shall have a ravishment of ward.
1657 J. Howell Londinopolis 38 If they commit the Custody of the Orphans to another man, he shall have a ravishment of ward if the Orphan be taken away.
1694 W. B. Heath's Maxims & Rules of Pleading xi. 236 In Ravishment of a Ward, the Judgment shall be of Damages with the Body.
1700 J. Tyrrell Gen. Hist. Eng. II. 1107 Penalties for Ravishment of a Ward from his Lord's Custody.
1792 R. Burn New Law Dict. II. 269 Ravishment of Ward, was a writ that lay for the guardian by knight's service, or in socage, against a person who took from him the body of his ward.
1889 Amer. Law Reg. 37 675 An action by the successor of an Abbot for ravishment of ward.
1999 Columbia Law Rev. 99 1373 A person who married an infant ward without the guardian's consent, or helped to arrange such a marriage, was subject..to the action of ravishment of ward brought by the guardian.
2011 C. Dunn in M. Korpiola Regional Variations Matrimonial Law & Custom Europe viii. 170 The formula of abduction became standardized when the writ of ravishment of wife was introduced in 1285.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > [noun] > devastation or desolation
harryingc900
harrowingc1000
wastinga1300
destructionc1330
harryc1330
wastenessa1382
wastitya1382
desolation1382
unroningnessa1400
wrackc1407
exile1436
havoc1480
hership1487
vastation1545
vastitude1545
sackc1550
population1552
waste1560
ravishment1570
riotingc1580
pull-down1588
desolating1591
degast1592
devastation1603
ravage1611
wracking1611
ravagement1766
herriment1787
carnage1848
wastage1909
enhavocking-
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > robbery > sacking, raiding, or looting > [noun] > instance(s) of
skeck1297
rapinea1513
skeg1542
spoil1543
ravishment1570
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Fiv/2 A Rauishmente, rapina.
1606 G. W. tr. Justinus Hist. ii. 9 The foule rauishments they had offered them by the Athenians.
1650 N. Ward Discolliminium 24 That Scotish Invasion and our English Defeat..was a very Ravishment.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.1436