1. Extreme delights or happiness: There were raptures of joy when the residents of the community heard that the floods had receded and would not cause any further damage or harm.
2. Utterances or expressions of appreciation and rejoicing: The critics went into raptures about the performance of the musician.
3. The carrying of a person to another place or a better sphere of existence: There are some religious leaders who preach the coming of a rapture which many of the faithful believe.
4. In theology, the experiences, anticipated by some fundamentalist Christians, of meeting Christ midway in the air upon His return to earth: The spirituality of the woman was seen in her face as she prayed that she would see the rapture of her Lord.

Some historical artists depicted the raptures of saints in their allegorical paintings that have underlying meanings as well as literal ones.

5. A feeling of great happiness, pleasure, or love: William and Elizabeth listened with rapture as their twelve-year old girl sang a solo during the school musical.

1. The state or condition of being transported by a lofty emotion; ecstasy: Dirk's academic achievements raptured his parents.
2. The transporting of a person from one place to another; especially, to heaven: The belief that, in the "last days", Christians will be raptured from the earth before the final tribulation.

Rapture originally meant being caught up in an emotional state, typically involuntary and uncontrollable; however, now, it simply means "great joy" or "ecstasy".