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Definition of ravish in English:

ravish

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transitive verb

[with object]

  • 1 archaic Seize and carry off (someone) by force.

    ‘there is no assurance that her infant child will not be ravished from her breast’
    • ‘One night a wolf comes and kills many chickens and ravishes a lamb.’
    kidnap, carry off, seize, capture, run away with, run off with, make off with, spirit away, hold hostage, hold to ransom, hijack
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    1. 1.1 dated (of a man) rape (a woman)
      ‘an angry father who suspects that his daughter has been ravished’
      • ‘Is that what you said to the daughter of Merewala when you killed her father and ravished her?’
      • ‘They are coming to kill every single man and woman with guns and knives, and to ravish our daughters and wives.’
      • ‘She would be too ashamed to confide in the abbess about how she was ravished by a stranger.’
      • ‘Minutes later, the men were ravishing Cliona - separately at first, then together.’
      • ‘He was supposed to have kept her awake, not ravish her, not rut her like some animal.’
      rape, sexually abuse, sexually assault, violate, force oneself on, molest
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  • 2 literary Fill (someone) with intense delight; enrapture.

    ‘ravished by a sunny afternoon, she had agreed without even thinking’
    • ‘Nineteenth-century travellers were ravished by the romantic spectacle of them, as they were delighted by the orientalism of the city itself, with its mysterious and lascivious suggestions of the east.’
    enrapture, send into raptures, enchant, fill with delight, delight, charm, entrance, enthral, captivate, bewitch, spellbind, fascinate, transport, overjoy
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Pronunciation

ravish

/ˈraviSH/ /ˈrævɪʃ/

Origin

Middle English from Old French raviss-, lengthened stem of ravir, from an alteration of Latin rapere ‘seize’.